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MISS ]IIARTOEA€'S 



LETTERS ON 



M E S M E R I H If. 



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NEW-YORK: 

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18 45. 



{December, 1844.] 

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M 



MARflMEAU'S 



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LETTERS ON '^^ 



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NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, 

No. 82 Cliff-Strbbt. 



18 45. 



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Orilt. 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



LETTER I. 



Tynemouth, Nov. 12. 

It is important to society to know whe- 
ther Mesmerism is true. The revival of 
its pretensions from age to age makes the 
negative of this question appear so improb- 
able, and the affirmative involves anticipa- 
tions .so vast, that no testimony of a con- 
scientious witness can be unworthy of 
attention. I am now capable of affording 
testimony ; and all personal considerations 
must give way before the social duty of im- 
parting the facts of which I am possessed. 

Those who know Mesmerism to be true 
from their own experience are now a large 
number ; many more, I believe, than is at 
all supposed by those who have not attend- 
ed to the subject. Another considerable 
class consists of those who believe upon 
testimony : who find it impossible not to 
yield credit to the long array of cases in 
many books, and to the attestation of 
friends whose judgment and veracity they 
are in the habit of respecting. After these 
there remain a good many who amuse 
themselves with observing some of the 
effects of Mesmerism, calhng them strange 
and unaccountable, and then going away 
and thinking no more about them ; and 
lastly, the great majority who know noth- 
ing of the matter, and are so little aware 
of its seriousness as to call it " a bore," or 
to laugh at it as nonsense or a cheat. 

If nonsense, it is remarkable that those 
who have most patiently and deeply exam- 
ined it, should be the most firmly and in- 
variably convinced of its truth. If it is a 
cheat, it is no laughing matter. If large 
number* of men can, age after age, be help- 
lessly prostrated under such a delusion as 
this, under a wicked influence so potential 
over mind and body, it is one of the most 
mournful facts in the history of man. 

For some years before June last, I was 
in the class of believers upon testimony. 
I had witnessed no mesmeric facts what- 
ever ; but I could not doubt the existence 
of many which were related to me without 
distrusting either the understanding, or the 



integrity, of some of the wisest and best 
people I knew. Nor did I find it possible 
to resist the evidence of books, of details 
of many cases of protracted bodily and 
mental effects. Nor, if it had been possi- 
ble, could I have thought it desirable or 
philosophical to set up my negative igno- 
rance of the functions of the nerves and 
the powers of the mind, against the posi- 
tive evidence of observers and recorders 
of new phenomena. People do not, or 
ought not, to reach my years without 
learning that the strangeness and absolute 
novelty of facts attested by more than one 
mind is rather a presumption of their truth 
than the contrary, as there would be some- 
thing more familiar in any devices or con- 
ceptions of men ; that our researches into 
the powers of nature, of human nature 
with the rest, have as yet gone such a lit- 
tle way that many discoveries are j'et to be 
looked for ; and that, while we have hardly 
recovered from the surprise of the new 
lights thrown upon the functions and tex- 
ture of the human frame by Harvey, Bell, 
and others, it is too soon to decide that 
there shall be no more as wonderful, and 
presumptuous in the extreme to predeter- 
mine what they shall or shall not be. 

Such was the state of my mind on the 
subject of Mesmerism six years ago, when 
I related a series of facts, on the testimo- 
ny of five persons whom I could trust, to 
one whose intellect I was accustomed to 
look up to, though I had had occasion to see 
that great discoveries were received or re- 
jected by him on other grounds than the 
evidence on which their pretensions rest- 
ed. He threw himself back in his chair 
when I began my story, exclaiming, " Is it 
possible that you are bit by that nonsense ?" 
On my declaring the amount of testimony 
on which I believed what I was telling, he 
declared, as he frequently did afterwards, 
that if he saw the incidents himself, he 
would not believe them ; he would sooner 
tWnk himself and the whole com.pany mad 
tfitm admit them. This declaration did me 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



good ; though, of course, it gave me con- 
cern. It showed me that I must keep my 
jnind free, and must observe and decide in- 
dependently, as there could be neither help 
nor hindrance from minds self-exiled in this 
way from the region of evidence. From 
that time till June last, I was, as I have said, 
a believer in Mesmerism on testimony. 

The reason why I did not qualify myself 
for belief or disbelief on evidence was a 
substantial one. From the early summer 
of 1839, I was, till this autumn, a prisoner 
from illness. My recovery now, by means 
•of mesmeric treatment alone, has given 
me the most thorough knowledge possible 
Ihat Mesmerism is true. 

This is not the place in which to give any 
'details of disease. It will be sufficient to 
explain briefly, in order to render my story 
intelligible, that the internal disease^ under 
which I have suffered, appears to have been 
■coming on for many years ; that after warn- 
ings of failing health, which I carelessly 
overlooked, I broke down, while travelling 
abroad, in June, 1839; that I sank lower 
and lower for three years after my return, 
and remained nearly stationary for two 
more, preceding last June. During these 
five years, I never felt wholly at ease for 
■one single hour. I seldom had severe pain ; 
but never entire comfort. A besetting sick- 
ness, almost disabling me from taking food 
for two years, brought me very low ; and, 
together with other evils, it confined me to 
.a condition of almost entire stillness — to a 
life passed between my bed and my sofa. 
It was not till after many attempts at gen- 
tle exercise that my friends agreed with 
me that the cost was too great for any ad- 
vantage gained : and at length it was clear 
that even going down one flight of stairs 
was imprudent. From that time, I lay 
I'Still ; and by means of this undisturbed 
vfuiet, and such an increase of opiates as 
kept down my most urgent discomforts, I 
passed the last two years with less suffer- 
ing than the three preceding. There was, 
however, no favourable change in the dis- 
ease. Everything was done for me that 
the best medical skill and science could 
suggest, and the most indefatigable hu- 
manity and family affection devise : but 
Slothing could avail beyond mere allevia- 
ation. My dependence on opiates was 
desperate. My kind and vigilant medical 
friend — the most sanguine man I know, 
and the most bent upon keeping his pa- 
tients hopeful — avowed to me last Christ- 
mas, and twice afterwards, that he found 
himself compelled to give up all hope of 
affecting the disease — of doing more than 
keeping me up, in collateral respects, to 
the highest practicable point. This was 
no surprise to me ; for when any specific 
medicine is taken for above two years 
wiithout affecting the disease, there is no 
more ground for hope in reason than in 



feeling. In June last, I suffered more than 
usual, and new measures of alleviation 
were resorted to. As to all the essential 
points of the disease, I was never lower 
than immediately before 1 made trial of 
Mesmerism. 

If, at any time during my illness, I had 
been asked, Vv'ith serious purpose, whether 
I believed there was no resource for me, I 
should have replied that Mesmerism might 
perhaps give me partial relief. I thought 
it right — and still think it was right — to 
wear out all other means first. It was not, 
however, for the reason that the testimony 
might be thurs rendered wholly unquestion- 
able — though I now feel my years of suf- 
fering but a light cost for such .result: it 
was for a more personal reason that I wait- 
ed. Surrounded as I was by relations and 
friends, who, knowing nothing of Mesmer- 
ism, regarded it as a delusion or an impos- 
ture — tenderly guarded and cared for as I 
was by those who so thought, and who 
went even further than myself in deference 
for the ordinary medical science and prac- 
tice it was morally impossible for me to en- 
tertain the idea of trying Mesmerism while 
any hope Vi?as cherished from other means. 

If it had not been so, there was the diffi- 
culty that I could not move, to go in search 
of aid from Mesmerists ; and to bring it 
hither while other means were in course 
of trial was out of the question. After my 
medical friend's avowal of his hopeless- 
ness, however, I felt myself not only at 
liberty, but in duty bound, to try, if possi- 
ble, the only remaining resource for alle- 
viation. I felt then, and I feel now, that 
through all mortification of old prejudices, 
and all springing up of new, nobody in the 
world would undertake to say I was wrong 
in seeking even recovery by any harmless 
means, when every other hope was given 
up by all : and it was not recovery that was 
in my thoughts, but only solace. It never 
presented itself to me as possible that dis- 
ease so long and deeply fixed could be re- 
moved ; and I was perfectly sincere in say- 
ing that the utmost I looked for was release 
from my miserable dependence on opiates. 
Deep as are my obligations to my faithful 
and skilful medical friend, for a long course 
of humane effort on his part, no one kind- 
ness of his has touched me so sensibly as 
the grace with which he met my desire to 
try a means of which he had no knowledge 
or opinion, and himself brought over \h& 
Mesmerist under whom the first trial of- 
ray susceptibility was made. 

Last winter, I wrote to two friends in 
London, telling them of my desire to try 
Mesmerism, and entreating them to be on 
the watch to let me know if any one came 
this way of whose aid I might avail myself. 
They watched for me, and one made it a 
business to gain all the information she 
could on my behalf; but nothing was ac- 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



tually done, or seemed likely to be done, 
when in June a sudden opening for the ex- 
periment was made, v/ithout any effort of 
my own, and on the 22nd I found myself, 
for the first time, under the hands of a 
Mesmerist. 

It all came about easily and naturally 
at last. I had letters — several of them 
in the course of ten days — one relating 
a case in which a surgeon, a near relative 
of mine, had, to his own astonishment, op- 
erated on a person in the mesmeric sleep 
"without causing pain; one from an invalid 
friend, ignorant of Mesmerism, who sug- 
gested it to me as a pis aller; and one from 
Mr. and Mrs. Basil Montagu, who, suppos- 
ing me an unbeliever, yet related to me the 
case of Ann Vials, and earnestly pressed 
upon me the expediency of a trial : and, at 
the same time, Mr. Spencer T. Hall being 
at Newcastle lecturing, my medical friend 
went out of curiosity, was impressed by 
what he saw, and came to me very full of 
the subject. I told him what was in my 
mind ; and I have said above with what a 
grace he met my wishes, and immediately 
set about gratifying thv3m. 

At the end of four months I was, as far 
as my own feelings could be any warrant, 
quite well. My mesmerist and I are not 
80 precipitate as to conclude my disease 
yet extirpated, and ray health established 
beyond all danger of relapse ;. because time 
only can prove such facts. We have not 
yet discontinued the mesmeric treatment, 
and I have not re-entered upon the hurry 
and bustle of the world. The case is thus 
not complete enough for a professional 
statement. But, as I am aware of no ail- 
ment, and am restored to the full enjoy- 
ment of active days and nights of resi, to 
the fall use of my powers of body and 
mind, and as many invalids, still laiiguish- 
ing in such illness as I have recovered 
from, are looking to me for guidance in 
the pursuit of health by the same means, I 
think it right not to delay giving a precise 
statement of my own mesmeric experi- 
ence, and of my observation of some dif- 
ferent manifestations in the instance of 
another patient in the same house. A fur- 
ther reason against delay is, that it would 
be a pity to omit the record of some of 
the fresh feelings and immature ideas 
which attend an early experience of mes- 
meric influence, and which it may be an 
aid and comfort to novices to recognize 
from my record. And again, as there is 
no saying, in regard to a subject so ob- 
scure, what is trivial and what is not, the 
fullest detail is likely to be the wisest, and 
the earlier the narrative the fuller ; u-liile 
better knowledge will teach us hereafter 
what are the non-essentials that may be 
dismissed. 

On Saturday, June 22nd, Mr. Spencer 
Hall and my medical friend came, as ar- 



ranged, at my worst hour of the day, be- 
tween the expiration of one opiate and the 
taking of another. By an accident the gen- 
tlemen were rather in a hurry — a circum.. 
stance unfavourable to a first experiment. 
But result enough was obtained to encour- 
age a further trial, though it was of a na- 
ture entirely unanticipated by me. I had 
no other idea than that I should either 
drop asleep or feel nothing. I did not 
drop asleep, and I did feel something very 
strange. 

Various passes were tried by Mr. Hall ; 
the first of those that appeared effectual, 
and the most so for some time after, were 
passes over the head, made from behind — 
passes from the forehead to the back of the 
head and a little way down the spine. A 
very short time after these were tried, and 
twenty minutes. from the beginning of the 
seance, I became sensible of an extraordi- 
nary appearance, most unexpected, and 
wholly unlike anything I had ever con- 
ceived of. Something seemed to diffuse 
itself through the atmosphere — not like 
smoke, nor steam, nor haze — but most like 
a clear twilight, closing in from the win- 
dows and down from the ceiling, and in 
which one object after another melted 
away, till scarcely anything was left visi- 
ble before ray wide-opened eyes. First,, 
the outlines of all objects were blurred; 
then a bust, standing on a pedestal in a 
strong light, melted quite away ; then the 
opposite bust, then the table with its gay 
cover, then the floor, and the ceiling, till 
one small picture, high up on the opposite 
wall, only remained visible — like a patch 
of phosphoric light. I feared to move my 
eyes, lest the singular appearance should 
vanish; and I cried out, "01 deepen it! 
deepen it !" supposing this the precursor 
of the sleep. It could not be deepened, 
however; and when I glanced aside from 
the luminous point, I found that 1 need not 
fear the return of objects to their ordinary 
appearance while the passes were contin- 
ued. The busts re-appeared, ghost-like, itt 
the dim atmosphere, like faint shadows, 
except that their outlines, and the parts in 
the highest relief, burned with the same 
phosphoric light. The features of one, an 
Isis with bent head, seemed to be illu- 
mined by a fire on the floor, though this 
bust has its back to the windows. Wher- 
ever I glanced, all outlines were dressed in 
this beautiful light; and so they have been, 
at every seance, without exception, to this 
day ; though the appearance has rather 
given way to drowsiness since I left off 
opiates entirely. This appearance contin- 
ued during the remaining twenty minutes 
before ttie gentlemen were obliged to leave 
me. The other effects produced were, first, 
heat, oppression and sickness, and, for a 
few hours after, disordered stomach; fol- 
lowed, in the course of the evening, by a 



6 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



feeling of lightness and relief, in which I 
thought I could hardly be mistaken: 

On occasions of a perfectly new experi- 
ence, however, scepticism and self-distrust 
are very strong. I was aware of this be- 
forehand, and also, of course, of tiie com- 
mon sneer — that mesmeric effects are " all 
imagination." When the singular appear- 
ances presented themselves, I thought to 
myself, — " Now, shall I ever believe that 
this was all fancy 1 When it is gone, and 
when people laugh, shall I ever doubt hav- 
ing seen what is now as distinct to my 
waking eyes as the rolling waves of yon- 
der sea, or the faces round my sofa ?" I 
did a httle doubt it in the course of the 
evening : I had some misgivings even so 
soon as that ; and yet more the next morn- 
ing, when it appeared like a dream. 

Great was the comfort, tlierefore, of re- 
cognizing the appearancces on the second 
afternoon. " Now," thought T, " can I again 
doubt ■?" 1 did, more faintly; but, before 
a week was over, 1 was certain of the fidel- 
ity of my own senses in regard to this, and 
more. 

There was no other agreeable experi- 
ence on this second afternoon. Mr. Hall 
was exhausted and unwell, from having 
mesmerized many patients ; and I was 
more oppressed and disordered than on the 
preceding day, and the disorder continued 
for a.longer time : but again, towards night, 
I felt refreshed and relieved. How much 
of my ease was to be attributed to Mesmer- 
ism, and how much to my accustomed opi- 
ate, there was no saying, in the then un- 
certain state of my mind. 

The next day, however, left no doubt. 
Mr. Hall was prevented by illness from 
coming over, too late to let me know. 
Unwilling to take my opiate while in ex- 
pectation of his arrival, and too wretched 
to do without some resource, I rang for 
my maid, and asked whether she had any 
objection to attempt what she saw Mr. 
Hall do the day before. With the greatest 
llacrity she complied. Within one minute 
^e twilight and phosphoric lights appear- 
ed ; and in two or three more, a delicious 
sensation of ease spread through me, — a 
cool comfort, before which all pain and 



distress gave way, oozing out, as it were, 
at the soles of my feet. During that hour, 
and almost the whole evening, I could no 
more help exclaiming with pleasure than 
a person in torture crying out with pain. 
I became hungry, and ate with relish, for 
the first time for five years. There was 
no heat, oppression, or sickness during the 
seance, nor any disorder afterwrrds. Du- 
ring the whole evening, instead of the lazy 
hot ease of opiates, under which pain is 
felt to lie in wait, I experienced something 
of the indescribable sensation of health, 
which I had quite lost and forgotten. I 
walked about my rooms, and was gay and 
talkative. Something of this rehef re- 
mained till the next morning; and then, 
there was no reaction. I was no worse 
than usual ; and perhaps rather better. 

Nothing is to me more unquestionable 
and more striking about this influence than 
the absence of all reaction. Its highest 
exhilaration is followed, not by depression 
or exhaustion, but by a further renovation. 
From the first hour to the present, I have 
never fallen back a single step. Every 
point gained has been steadily held. Im- 
proved composure of nerve and spirits has 
followed upon every mesmeric exhilara- 
tion. I have been spared all the weak- 
nesses of convalescence, and have been 
carried through all the usually formida- 
ble enterprises of return from deep disease 
to health with a steadiness and tranquillity 
astonishing to all witnesses. At this time, 
before venturing to speak of my health as 
established, I believe myself more firm in 
nerve, more calm and steady in mind and 
spirits, than at any time of my life before. 
So much, in consideration of the natural 
and common fear of the mesmeric influ- 
ence as pernicious excitement — as a kind 
of intoxication. 

When Mr. Hall saw how congenial was 
the influence of this new Mesmerist, he 
advised our going on by ourselves, which, 
we did until the 6th of September. 

I owe much to Mr. Hall for his disinter- 
ested zeal and kindness. He did for me 
all he could ; and it was much to make a 
beginning, and put us in the way of pro- 
ceeding. 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



LETTER 11. 



I next procured, for guidance, Deleuze's 
■'Instruction Pratique sur le Magnetisme 
Animal.' Out of this I directed my maid : 
and for some weeks we went on pretty 
well. Finding my appetite and digestion 
sufficiently improved, I left off tonics, and 
also the medicine which J had taken for 
two years and four months, in obedience 
to my doctor's hope of affecting the dis- 
ease, — though the eminent physician who 
saw me before that time declared that he 
had " tried it in an infinite number of such 
cases, and never knew it avail." I never 
felt the want of these medicines, nor oth- 
ers which I afterwards discontinued. From 
ihe first week in August, 1 took no medi- 
cines but opiates ; and these I was gra- 
dually reducing. These particulars are 
mentioned to show how early in the expe- 
riment Mesmerism became my sole reli- 
ance. 

On four days, scattered through six 
weeks, our seance was prevented by visit- 
ers, or other accidents. On these four 
days, the old distress and pain recurred ; 
but never on the days when I was mes- 
merized. 

From the middle of August (after I had 
discontinued all medicines but opiates), 
the departure of the worst pains and op- 
pressions of my disease made me suspect 
that the complaint itself, — the incurable, 
hopeless disease of so many years, — was 
reached ; and now I first began to glance 
towards the thought of recovery. In two 
or three weeks more, it became certain 
that r was not deceived; and the radical 
amendment has since gone on, without in- 
termission. 

Another thing, however, was also be- 
coming clear : that more aid was neces- 
sary. My maid did for me whatever, un- 
-der my own instruction, good-will and 
affection could do. But the patience and 
strenuous purpose required in a case of 
such long and deep seated disease can 
only be looked for in an educated person, 
60 familiar with the practice of Mesmer- 
ism as to be able to keep a steady eye on 
the end, through all delays and doubtful 
incidents. And it is also important, if not 
necessary, that the predominance of will 
should be in the Mesmerist, not the pa- 
tient. The offices of an untrained servant 
may avail perfectly in a short case, — for 
the removal of sudden pain, or a brief ill- 
ness ; but, from the subordination being in 
the wrong party, we found ourselves com- 
ing to a stand. 

This difficulty was abolished by the 
kindness and sagacity of Mr. Atkinson, 
who had been my adviser throughout. He 
■explained my position to a friend of his — 



a lady, the widow of a clergyman, deeply 
and practically interested in Mesmerism — 
possessed of great Mesmeric power, and 
of those high qualities of,mind and heart 
which fortify and sanctify its influence. 
In pure zeal and benevolence, this lady 
came to me, and has been with me ever 
since. When I found myself able to re- 
pose on the knowledge and power (mental 
and moral) of my Mesmerist, the last im- 
pediments to my progress were cleared 
away, and I improved accordingly. 

Under her hands the visual appearances 
and other immediate sensations were much 
the same as before ; but the experience of 
recovery was more rapid. I can describe 
it only by saying, that I felt as if my hfe 
were fed from day to day. The vital force 
infused or induced was as clear and certain 
as the strength given by food to those who 
are faint from hunger. I am careful to 
avoid theorizing at present on a subject 
which has not yet furnished me with a 
sufficiency of facts ; but it can hardly be 
called theorizing to say (while silent as to 
the nature of the agency) that the princi- 
ple of life itself — that principle which is 
antagonistic to disease — appears to be for- 
tified by the mesmeric influence ; and thus 
far we rnay account for Mesmerism being 
no specific, but successful through the wi- 
dest range of diseases that are not heredi- 
tary, and have not caused disorganization. 
No mistake about Mesmerism is more pre- 
valent than the supposition that it can avail 
only in nervous diseases. The numerous 
cases recorded of cure of rheumatism, 
dropsy, cancer, and the whole class of tu- 
mours, — cases as distinct, and almost as 
numerous as those of cure of paralysis, epi- 
lepsy, and other diseases of the brain and 
nerves, must make any mquirer cautious of 
limiting his anticipations and experiments 
by any theory of exclusive action on the 
nervous system. Whether Mesmerism, 
and, indeed, any influence whatever, acts 
exclusively through the nervous system, 
is another question. 

A few days after the arrival of my kind 
Mesmerist, I had my foot on the grass for 
the first time for four years and a half. I 
went down to the little garden under my 
windows. I never before was in the open, 
air, after an illness of merely a week or 
two, without feeling more or less over- 
powered ; but now, under the open sky, 
after four years and a half spent between 
bed and a sofa, I felt no faintness, exhaus- 
tion, or nervousness of any kind. I was 
somewhat haunted for a day or two by the 
stalks of the grass, which I had not »een 
growing for so long (for, weU supplied as 
I had been with flowers, rich and rare, I 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



had seen no grass, except from rny win- 
dows) ; but at the time, 1 was as self-pos- 
sessed as any walker in the place. In 
a day or two, I walked round the garden, 
then down the lane, then to the haven, and 
so on, till now, in two months, five miles 
are no fatigue to me. At first, the eviden- 
ces of the extent of the disease were so 
clear as to make me think that I had nev- 
er before fully understood how ill I had 
been. They disappeared one by one ; and 
now I feel nothing of them. 

The same fortifying influence carried me 
through the greatest eifort of all, — the final 
severance from opiates. What that strug- 
gle is, can be conceived only by those 
who have experienced, or watched it with 
solicitude in a case of desperate depend- 
ence on them for years. No previous re- 
duction can bridge over the chasm which 
separates an opiated from the natural state. 
I see in my own experience a consoling 
promise for the diseased, and also for the 
intemperate, who may desire to regain a 
natural condition, but might fail through 
bodily suffermg. Where the mesmeric 
sleep can be induced, the transition may 
be made comparatively easy. It appears, 
however, that opiates are a great hind- 
rance to the production of 'the sleep; but 
even so, the mesmeric influence is an ines- 
timable help, as I can testify. I gave all 
my opiates to my Mesmerist, desiring her 
not to let me have any on any entreaty ; 
and during the day I scarcely felt the want 
of them. Her mesmerizing kept me up ; 
and, much more, it intercepted the dis- 
tres.s, — obviated the accumulation of mis- 
eries under which the unaided sufferer is 
apt to sink. It enabled me to encounter 
every night afresh, — acting as it does in 
cases of insanity, where it is all-important 
to suspend the peculiar irritation — to ban- 
ish the haunting idea. What further aid 
I derived in this last struggle from Mes- 
merism in another form, I shall mention 
when I detail the other case with which 
my own became implicated, and in which, 
to myself at least, the interest of my own 
has completely merged. 

It will be supposed that during the whole 
experiment, I longed to enjoy the mes- 
meric sleep, and was on the watch for 
some of the wonders which I knew to be 
common. The sleep never came, and ex- 
cept the great marvel of restored health, I 
have experienced less of the wonders than 
I have observed in another. Some curi- 
ous particulars are, however, worth noting. 

The first very striking circumstance to 
me, a novice, though familiar enough to 
be practised, was the power of my Mes- 
merist's volitions, without any co-opera- 
tion on my part. One very warm morn- 
ing in August, when every body else was 
oppressed with heat, I was shivering a lit- 
tle under the mesmeric influence of my 



maid, — the influence, in those days, caus- 
ing the sensation of cold currents running^ 
through me from head to foot. " This 
cold will not do for you, ma'am," said M. 
" O !" said I, "it is fresh, and I do not 
mind it :" and immediately my mind went 
off to something else. In a few minutes, 
I was surprised by a feeling as of warm 
water trickling through the channels of the 
late cold. In reply to my observation, that 
I was warm now, M. said, " Yes, ma'am, 
that is what I am doing. By inquiry and 
observation, it became clear to me, that her 
influence was, generally speaking, compo- 
sing, just in proportion to her power of 
willing that it should be so. When I af- 
terwards saw, in the case I shall relate, 
how the volition of the Mesmerist caused 
immediate waking from the deepest sleep, 
and a supposition that the same glass of 
water was now wine — now porter, &c., I 
became too much familiarized with the 
effect to be as much astonished as many 
of ray readers will doubtless be. 

Another striking incident occurred in 
one of the earliest of my walks. My Mes- 
merist and I had reached a headland nearly 
half a mile from home, and were resting 
there, when she proposed to mesmerize me 
a little — partly to refresh me for our re- 
turn, and partly to see whether any effect 
would be produced in a new place, and 
while a fresh breeze was blowing. She 
merely laid her hand on my forehead, and 
in a minute or two the usual appearances 
came, assuming a strange air of novelty 
from the scene in which I was. After the 
blurring' of the outlines, which made all 
objects more dim than the dull gray day 
had already made them, the phosphoric 
lights appeared, glorifying every rock and 
headland, the horizon, and all the vessels 
in sight. One of the dirtiest and meanest 
of the steam tugs in the port was passing 
at the time, and it was all dressed in hea- 
venly radiance — the last object that any 
imagination would select as an element of 
a vision. Then, and often before and since, 
did it occur to me that if I had been a pi- 
ous and very ignorant Catholic, I could 
not have escaped the persuasion that I had 
seen heavenly visions. Every glorified 
object before my open eyes would have 
been a revelation ; and my Mesmerist, with 
the white halo round her head, and the 
illuminated profile, would have been a saint 
or ^n angel. 

Sometimes the induced darkening has 
been so great, that I have seriously inquir- 
ed whether the lamp was not out, when a 
few movements of the head convinced me 
that it was burning as brightly as ever. 
As the muscular power oozes away under 
the mesmeric influence, a strange inexpli- 
cable feeling ensues of the frame becom- 
ing transparent and ductile. My head has 
often appeared to be drawn out, to change 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



its form, according to the traction of my 
Mesmerist, and an indescribable and ex- 
ceedingly agreeable sensation of transpa- 
rency and lightness, through a part or the 
whole of the frame, has followed. Then 
begins the moaning, of which so ranch has 
been made, as an indication of pain. I 
have often moaned, and much oftener have 
been disposed to do so, when the sensa- 
tions have been the most tranquil and 
agreeable. At such times, my Mesmerist 
has struggled not to disturb me by a laugh, 
when I have murmured, with a serious 
tone, " Here are my hands, but they have 
no arms to them :" " O dear ! what shall I 
do ? here is none of me left !" the intellect 
and moral powers being all the while at 
their strongest. Between this condition 
and the mesmeric sleep there is a state, 
transient and rare, of which 1 have had 
experience, but of which I intend to give 
no account. A somnambule calls it a glim- 
mering of the lights of somnambulism and 
clairvoyance. To me there appears no- 
thing like glimmering in it. The ideas that 
1 have snatched from it, and now retain, 
are, of all ideas which ever visited me, the 
most lucid and impressive. It may be 
Avell that they are incommunicable — partly 
from their nature and relations, and partly 
from their unfitness for translation into 
mere words. I will only say that the con- 
dition is one of no "nervous excitement," 
as far as experience and outward indica- 
tions can be taken as a test. Such a state 
of repose, of calm translucent intellectua-- 
lity, I had never conceived of; and no re- 
action followed, no excitement but that 
which is natural to every one who finds 
himself in possession of a great new idea. 
Before leaving the narrative of my own 
case for that of another, widely different, 
I put in a claim for my experiment being 
considered rational. It surely was so, not 
only on account of my previous knowledge 
of facts, and of my hopelessness from any 
other resource, but on grounds which other 
sufferers may share with me ; — on the 
ground that though the science of medi- 
cine may be exhausted in any particular 
case, it does not follow that curative means 
are exhausted ; — on the ground of the ig- 
norance of all men of the nature and e.x- 
tent of the reparative power which lies 
under our hand, and which is vaguely indi- 
cated by the term " Nature :" — on the 
B 



ground of the ignorance of all men regard- 
ing the very structure, and much more,- 
the functions of the nervous system ;— and 
on the broad ultimate ground of our" total 
ignorance of the principle of life,— of what 
it is, and where ii resides, and whether it 
can be reached, and in any way benefi- 
cially affected by a voluntary application 
of human energy. 

It seemed to me rational to seek a way 
to refreshment first, and then to healthy 
amidst this wilderness of ignorances, ra- 
ther than to lie perishing in their depths. 
The event seems to prove it so. The sto- 
ry appears to me to speak for itself. If it 
does not assert jiself to all, — if any should, 
as is common in cases of restoration by 
Mesmerism, — try to account for the result 
by any means but those which are obvi- 
ous, supposing a host of moral impossibil- 
ities rather than admit a plain new fact, I 
have no concern with such objectors or 
objections. 

In a case of blindness cured, once upon 
a time, and cavilled at and denied, from 
hostility to the means, an answer was giv- 
en which we are wont to consider suffi- 
ciently satisfactory: "One thing I know, 
that whereas I was blind, now I see." 
Those who could dispute the fact after 
this must be left to their doubts. They 
could, it is true, cast out their restored 
brother; but they could not impair his joy 
in his new blessing, nor despoil him of his 
far higher privileges of belief in and alle- 
giance to his benefactor. Thus, whene- 
ver, under the Providence which leads on 
our race to knowledge and power, any 
new blessing of healing arises, it is little to 
one who enjoys it what disputes are caus- 
ed among observers. To him, the privi- 
lege is clear and. substantial. Physically,, 
having been diseased, he is now well. In- 
tellectually, having been blind, he now 
sees. 

For the wisest this is enough. And 
for those of a somewhat lower order, who 
have a restless craving for human sympa- 
thy in their recovered relish of life, there 
is almost a certainty that somewhere near 
them there exists hearts susceptible of 
simple faith in the unexplored powers of 
nature, and minds capable of an ingenuous 
recognition of plain facts, though they be 
new, and must wait for a theoretical sola-- 
tion. 



10 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



LETTER III. 



Tynemouth, Nov. 20, 1844. 

When I entered upon my lodgings here, 
nearly five years ago, I was waited upon 
by my landlady's niece, a girl of fourteen. 
From that time to this, she has been under 
my eye ; and now, at the age of nineteen, 
she has all the ingenuousness and consci- 
entiousness that won my respect at first, 
with an increased intelligence and activity 
of affections. 1 am aware that personal 
confidence, such as I feel for this girl, can- 
not be transferred to any other mind by 
testimony. Still, the testimony of an in- 
mate of the same house for so many years, 
as to essential points of character, must 
have some weight : and therefore I preface 
my story with it. I would add that no 
wonders of Mesmerism could be greater 
than that a person of such character, age, 
and position should be able, for a long suc- 
cession of weeks, to do and say things, 
every evening, unlike her ordinary sayings 
and doings, to tell things out of the scope 
of her ordinary knowledge, and to com- 
mand her countenance and demeanour, so 
that no fear, no mirth, no anger, no doubt, 
should ever once make her move a mus- 
cle, or change colour, or swerve for one 
instant from the consistency of her asser- 
tions and denials on matters of fact or 
opinion. I am certain that it is not in hu- 
man nature to keep up for seven weeks, 
v/ithout slip or trip, a series of deceptions 
so multifarious ; and I should say so of a 
perfect stranger, as confidently as I say it 
of this girl, whom I know to be incapable 
of deception, as much from the character 
of her intellect as of her morale. When it 
is seen, as it will be, that she has also told 
incidents which it is impossible she could 
have known by ordinary means, every per- 
son who really wishes to study such a case, 
v/ill think the present as worthy of atten- 
tion as any that can be met with, though 
it offers no array of strange tricks, and few 
extreme marvels. 

My Mesmerist and I were taken by sur- 
prise by the occurrence of this case. My 
friend's maid told her, on the 1st of Octo- 
ber, that J. (our subject) had been suffer- 
ing so much the day before, from pain in 
the head and inflamed eye, that she (the 
maid) had mesmerised her; that J. had 
gone off into the deep sleep in five minutes, 
and had slept for twenty minutes, when 
her aunt, in alarm, had desired that she 
should be awakened. J. found herself not 
only relieved from pain, but able to eat and 
sleep, and to set about her business the 
next day with a relish and vigour quite un- 
usual. My friend saw at once what an op- 
portunity might here offer for improving 
the girl's infirm health, and for obtaining , 



light as to the state and management of my 
case, then advancing well, but still a sub- 
ject of anxiety. 

J. had for six years been subject to fre- 
quent severe pain in the left temple, and 
perpetually recurring inflammation of the 
eyes, with much disorder besides. She is 
active and stirring in her habits, patient 
and cheerful in illness, and disposed to 
make the least, rather than the most, of her 
complaints. She had, during these six 
years, been under the care of several doc- 
tors, and was at one time a patient at the 
Eye Infirmary at Newcastle ; and the se- 
vere treatment she has undergone is mel- 
ancholy to think of, when most of it ap- 
pears to have been almost or entirely in 
vain. She herself assigns, in the trance, 
a structural defect as the cause of her ail- 
ments, which will prevent their ever being 
entirely removed ; but, from the beginning 
of the mesmeric treatment, her health and 
looks have so greatly improved, that her 
acquaintance in the neighbourhood stop 
her to ask how it is that her appearance is 
so amended. There was in her case cer- 
tainly no " imagination" to begin with ; for 
she was wholly ignorant of Mesmerism, 
and had no more conception of the phe- 
nomena she was about to manifest than 
she has consciousness of them at this mo- 
ment. 

This unconsciousness we have guarded 
with the utmost care. We immediately 
resolved that, if possible, there should be 
ona case of which no one could honestly 
say that the sleeping and waking states of 
mind were mixed. Our object has been, 
thus far, completely attained, — one harm- 
less exception only having occurred. This 
was when, speaking of the nature and des- 
tiny of man, an idea which she had " heard 
in church" intruded itself among some 
otherwise derived, and troubled her by the 
admixture. On that occasion, she remark- 
ed afterwards, that she had been dreaming, 
and, she thought, talking of the soul and the 
day of judgment. This is the only instance 
of her retaining any trace of anything be- 
ing said or done in the trance. Her sur- 
prise on two or three occasions, at finding 
herself, on awaking, in a different chair 
fram the one she went to sleep in, must 
shew her that she has walked : but we have 
every evidence from her reception of what 
we say to her, and from her ignorance of 
things of which she had previously inform- 
ed us, that the time of her mesmeric sleep 
is afterwards an absolute blank to her. I 
asked her one evening lately, when she was 
in the deep sleep, what she would think of 
my publishing an account of her experi- 
ence with my own, — whether she should 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



U 



be vexed by it. She replied that she should 
like it very much : she hoped somebody 
would let her know of it, and show it to 
her, — for, though she remembered when 
asleep everything she had thought when 
asleep before, she could not keep any of 
it till she awoke. It was all regularly 
" blown away." But if it was printed, she 
should know; and she should- like that. 

To preserve this unconsciousness as 
long as possible, we have admitted no per- 
son whatever at our seances, from the first 
day till now, who could speak to her on 
the subject. We shut out our maids at 
once ; and we two have been the constant 
witnesses, with a visitor now and then, to 
the number of about twelve in the whole. 

It is a memorable moment when one 
first hears the monosyllable, which tells 
that the true mesmeric trance has begun. 
"Are you asleep 1" "Yes." It is cros- 
sing the threshold of a new region of ob- 
servation of human nature. Then it goes 
•on. — " How long shall you sleep !" " Half 
an hour." — " Shall you wake of yourself, 
or shall I wake youV "I shall wake of 
myself." — And so she did to a second, — no 
clock or watch being near, but the watch 
in my hand. For some weeks she could 
always see the time, and foretell her own 
waking; but of late, in manifesting some 
new capabilities, she has lost much of this. 

Nothing can induce her to say a word 
on a matter she is not perfectly sure of. 
She solemnly shakes her head, saying, " I 
won't guess: it won't do to guess." And 
sometimes, appealingly, " I would tell you 
if I could." " I'll try to see." " I'll do all I 
can," &c. When sure of her point, noth- 
ing can move her from her declarations. 
Night after night, week after week, she 
sticks to her decisions, strangely enough 
sometimes, as it appears to us : but we are 
.not aware of her ever yet having been mis- 
taken on any point on which she has de- 
clared herself. We ascribe this to our 
liaving carefully kept apart the waking and 
sleeping ideas ; for it is rare to find som- 
jiambules whose declarations can be at all 
confidently relied on. If any waking con- 
sciousness is mixed up with their sleeping 
faculties, they are apt to guess — to amuse 
their fancy, and to say anything that they 
think will best please their Mesmerist. J.'s 
strict and uncompromising truthfulness 
forms a striking contrast with the vagaries 
of hackneyed, and otherwise mismanaged 
soranambules. 

It soon became evident that one of her 
strongest powers was the discernment of 
disease, its condition and remedies. She 
cleared up her own case first, prescribing 
for herself very fluently. It was curious 
to see, on her awaking, the deference and 
obedience with which she received from 
us the prescriptions with which she herself 
had just furnished us. They succeeded 



and so did similar efforts on my behalf. 1 
cannot here detail the wonderful accuracy 
with which she related, without any possi- 
ble knowledge of my life ten and twenty 
years ago, the circumstances of the origin 
and progress of my ill-health, of the un- 
availing use of medical treatment for five 
years, and the operation of Mesmerism up- 
on it of late. One little fact will serve our 
present purpose better. Soon after she 
was first mesmerized, I was undergoing 
my final severance from opiates — a seri- 
ous matter to one who had depended so 
long and so desperately upon them. As I 
have said, I got through the day pretty 
well ; but the nights were intolerable, from 
pain and nervous irritations, which made 
it impossible to rest for two minutes to- 
gether. After four such nights, I beheve 
ray Mesmerist's fortitude and my own 
would have given way together, and we 
should have brought the laudanum bottle 
to light again, but for the bright idea, " let 
us ask J !" She said at once what my 
sufferings had been, and declared that I 
should sleep more and more by degrees, if 
I took— (what was as contrary to her own 
ordinary ideas of what is right and ration- 
al as to mine) — ale at dinner, and half a 
wine-glass full of brandy in water at night. 
I refused the prescription till reminded — 
" Remember she has never been wrong." 
I obeyed ; the fact being kept secret be- 
tween us two, in order to try, every even- 
ing, J.'s knowledge and opinion. She al- 
ways spoke and advised, in a confident fa- 
miliarity with incidents known only to us 
two, and carried me steadily through the 
struggle. I lost my miseries, and recov- 
ered my sleep, night by night, till, at the 
end of the week, I was quite well, without 
stimulant or sedative. Nothing can be 
more remote from J.'s ordinary knowledge 
and thought than the structure of the hu- 
man body, and the remedies for disease : 
and, though I was well aware how com- 
mon the exercise of this kind of insight is 
in somnambules — how it is used abroad as 
an auxiliary to medical treatment — I was 
not the less surprised by the readiness and 
peremptoriness with which a person, in 
J.'s position, declared, and gave directions 
about things which she is wholly ignorant 
of an hour after, and was, during the whole 
of her life before. 

It is almost an established opinion among 
some of the wisest students of Mesmer- 
ism, that the mind of the somnambule mir- 
rors that of the Mesmerist. Of course, 
this explains nothing of the operation of 
Mesmerism ; but it a supposition most im- 
portant to be established or disproved. 
One naturally wishes to find it true, as it 
disposes of much that, with the hasty, pas- 
ses for revelation of other unseen tilings 
than those which lie in another person's 
mind. It certainly is true to a considera- 



12 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



ble extent, as is pretty clearly proved when 
an ignorant child — ignorant, especially of 
the Bible — discourses of the Scriptures 
and divinity when mesmerized by a cler- 
gyman, and of the nebulae when mesmer- 
ized by an astronomer ; but we have evi- 
dence in J. that this is, though often, not 
universally true. 1 will give an example 
of each : — 

On Saturday, October 12, she had told 
us that she now "saw the shades of things" 
that she wanted to know, and that she 
should " soon see clearer." The next 
evening, she went into a great rapture 
about the " gleams" becoming brighter, so 
that she should soon see all she wished. 
The light came through the brain, — not 
like sunlight, nor moonlight ; " No, there 
is no light on earth like this :" the know- 
ledge she got " comes astonishingly, — ama. 
zingly, — so pleasantly!" "How is the 
mesmerizing done which causes this V 
" By all the powers at once." " What 
powers ■?" " The soul, and the mind, and 
the vital powers of the body." Then, as 
we inquired — " The mind is not the same 
as the soul. All are required in mesmer- 
izing, but the mind most, though Mesmer- 
ism is still something else." " Those three 
things exist in every human being, (the 
soul, the mind, and the body,) separate 
from one another ; but the faculties belong- 
ing to them are not the same in everybody; 
some have more, some less. The body 
dies, and the mind dies with it ; but the 
soul lives after it. The soul is independ- 
ent, and self-existent, and therefore lives 
for ever. It depends upon nothing." 

Here I prompted the question, "What, 
then, is its relation to God]" She hastily 
replied, " He takes care of it, to reunite it 
with the body at the day of judgment." 
Here I was forcibly and painfully struck 
with the incompatability of the former and 
latter saying, not (as I hope it is needless 
to explain), from any waiting on her lips 
for revelations on this class of subjects, 
but because it was painful to find her fac- 
ulties working faultily. As I felt this dis- 
appointment come over me, an expression 
of trouble disturbed J. 's face, so ineffably 
happy always during her sleep. " Stop," 
said she, " I am not sure about the last. 
All I said before was true — the real mes- 
meric truth. But I can't make out about 
that last : 1 heard it when I was awake, — 
I heard it in church, — that all the particles 
of our bodies, however they may be scat- 
tered, will be gathered together at the day 
of judgment ; but I am not sure." And 
she became excited, saying that it " both- 
ered her," what she knew and what she 
had heard being mixed up. Her Mesmer- 
ist dispersed that set of ideas, and she 
■was presently happy again, talking of the 
*' lights." This was the occasion on which 
some traces remained in her waking state, 



and she told a fellow-servant that she had 
been dreaming and talking about the day 

of judgment. 

Now here her mind seemed to reflect 
those of both her companions, (though I 
was not aware of being en rapport with her). 
Her Mesmerist had it in her mind that a 
somnambule at Cheltenham had declared 
man to consist of three elements; and .T.'s 
trouble at her own mingling of ideas from 
two sources seems to have been an imme- 
diate echo of mine. Such an incident as 
this shows how watchful the reason should 
be over such phenomena, and explains the 
rise of many pretensions to inspiration. It 
requires some self-control for the most 
philosophical to look on a person of mod- 
erate capabihties and confined education, 
in the attitude of sleep, unaware of pass- 
ing incidents, but speaking on high sub- 
jects with an animated delight exceeding 
anything witnessed in ordinary hfe ; — it re- 
quires some coolness and command of self 
to remember that what is said may be of 
no authority as truth, however valuable as 
manifestation. 

On the next occasion, she uttered what 
could not possibly be in the mind of any 
one of the four persons present. The an- 
ecdote is so inexplicable, that I should not 
give it, but for my conviction that it is 
right to relate the most striking facts that 
come under my observation, positively de- 
clining to theorize. My friend and I have 
used every means of ascertaining the truth 
in this instance ; and we cannot discover 
any chink through which deception or mis- 
take can have crept in, even if the som- 
nambule had been a stranger, instead of 
one whose integrity is well known to us. 

The next evening, (Monday, October 
14th,) J. did not come up as usual to our 
seance. There was affliction in the house- 
hold. An aunt of J.'s, Mrs. A., a good 
woman I have long known, lives in a cot- 
tage at the bottom of our garden. Mrs. 
A.'s son, J.'s cousin, was one of the crew 
of a vessel which was this evening report- 
ed to have been wrecked near Hull. This 
was all that was known, except that the 
owner was gone to Hull to see about it. J. 
was about to walk to Shields with a com- 
panion to inquire, but the night was so 
tempestuous, and it was so evident that 
no news could be obtained, that she was 
persuaded not to go. But she Avas too 
mtich disturbed to think of being mesmer- 
ized. Next morning there was no news. 
All day there were flying reports, — that 
all hands were lost — that all were saved — 
but nothing like what afterwards proved 
to be the truth. In the afternoon (no ti- 
dings having arrived) we went for a long 
drive, and took J. with us. She was with 
us, in another direction, till tea-time; and 
then, on our return, there were still no 
tidings ; but Mrs. A. was gone to Sliields to 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



13 



inquire, and if letters had come, she would 
bring the news in the evening. J. went 
out on an errand, while we were at tea, — 
no person in the place having then any 
means of knowing about the wreck; and 
on her return, she came straight up to us 
for her seance. Two gentlemen were with 
us that .evening, one from America, the 
other from the neighbourhood. I may say- 
here, that we note down at the moment 
what J. says ; and that on this evening 
there was the additional security of my 
American friend repeating to me, on the 
instant, (on account of my deafness,) every 
word as it fell. 

J. was presently asleep, and her Mes- 
merist, knowing the advantage of introdu- 
cing subjects on which the mind had pre- 
viously been excited, and how the inspi- 
ration follows the course of the affec- 
tions, asked, as soon as the sleep was 
deep enough, 

"Can you tell us about the wreck!" 

J. tranquilly replied, 

" Oh ! yes, they're all safe ; but the ship 
is all to pieces." 

" Were they saved in their boat V 

" No, that's all to pieces." 

"How then?" 

"A queer boat took them off; not their 
boat." 

" Are you sure they are all safe ■?" 

" Yes ; all that were on board ; but there 
%oas a boy killed. But I don't think it is 
my cousin." 

" At the time of the wreck V* 

" No, before the storm." 

" How did it happen V 

" By a fall." 

" Down the hatchways, or how V 

" No, he fell through the rigging, from 
the mast." 

She presently observed, " My aunt is be- 
low, telling them all about it, and I shall 
hear it when I go down." 

My rooms being a selection from two 
houses, this " below" meant two stories 
lower in the next house. 

She continued talking of other things for 
an hour longer, and before she awoke, the 



gentlemen were gone. After inquiring 
whether she was refreshed by her sleep, 
and whether she had dreamed, ("No,") 
we desired her to let us know if she heard 
news of the wreck; and she promised, in 
all simplicity, that she would. In another 
quarter of an hour, up she came, all ani- 
mation, to tell us that her cousin and all 
the crew were safe, her aunt having re- 
turned from Shields with the news. The 
wreck had occurred between Elsinore and 
Gottenberg, and the crew had been taken 
off by a fishing-boat, after two days spent 
on the wreck, their own boat having gone 
to pieces. She was turning away to leave 
the room, when she was asked, — 

" So all are saved — all who left the 
port ■?" 

" No, ma'am,' said she, " all who were 
on board at the time: but they had had an 
accident before ; — a boy fell from the mast, 
and was killed on the deck." 

Besides having no doubt of the rectitude 
of the girl, we knew that she had not seen 
her aunt, — the only person from whom 
tidings could have been obtained. But, to 
make all sure, I made an errand to the 
cottage the next morning, well knowing 
that the relieved mother would pour out 
her whole tale. My friend and I encour- 
aged her ; and she told us how she got the 
news, and when she brought it to Tyne- 
mouth, — ^just as we knew before. " How 
glad they must have been to see you 'at 
ours' !" said I. 

" O yes, ma'am :" and she declared my 
landlady's delight. 

"And J.," said I. 

" Ma'am, I did not see J.," said she, 
simply and rapidly, in her eagerness to 
tell. Then, presently, — "They told me, 
ma'am, that J. was up stairs with you." 

Two evenings afterwards, J. was ask- 
ed, when in the sleep, whether she knew 
what she related to us by seeing her aunt 
telling the people below'? to which she 
replied, " No ; 1 saw the place and the peo- 
ple themselves, — like a vision." 

Such was her own idea, whatever may 
be the conjectures of others. 



14 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



LETTER IV. 



Tynemouth, Nov. 24, 1844. 
I HAVE too little knowledge of Mesmer- 
ism to be aware whether the more impor- 
tant powers of somnambulism and clair- 
voyance abide long in, or can be long ex- 
ercised by, any individual. I have heard 
of several cases where the lucidity was 
lost after a rather short exercise ; but in 
those cases there was room for a suppo- 
sition of mismanagement. The tempta- 
tion is strong to overwork a somnambule ; 
and especially when the faculty of insight 
relates to diseases, and sufferers are lan- 
guishing on every side. The temptation 
is also strong to prescribe the conditions, — 
to settle what the somnambule shall or 
shall not see or do, in order to convince 
oneself or somebody else, or to gratify 
some desire for information on a particu- 
lar subject. It is hard to say who was 
most to blame with regard to Alexis, — 
the exhibitor who exposed him to the hard- 
ship of unphilosophical requirements, or 
the visitors who knew so little how to 
conduct an inquiry into the powers of 
Nature, as to prescribe what her manifes- 
tations should be. The " failures," in such 
cases, go for nothing, in the presence of 
one new manifestation. They merely in- 
dicate that there is no reply to impertinent 
questions. The successes and failures to- 
gether leach that the business of inquirers 
is to wait upon Nature, to take what she 
gives, and make the best they can of it, 
and not disown her because they cannot 
get from her what they have predeter- 
mined. Strongly as I was impressed by 
this, when reading about Alexis, from week 
to week last spring, I still needed a lesson 
myself, — a rebuke or two such as our som- 
nambule has more than once given us here. 
As soon as her power of indicating and 
prescribing for disease was quite clear to 
us, we were naturally anxious to obtain 
replies to a few questions of practical im- 
portance. We expressed, I hope, no im- 
patience at the often repeated, " I'll try to 
see : but I can't make it out yet." " I 
shall not get a sight of that again till 
Thursday." " It's all gone : — it's all dark, 
— and I shall see no more to-night." We 
reminded each other of the beauty and 
value of her truthfulness, from which she 
could not be turned aside, by any pressure 
of our eagerness. But one evening out 
came an expression, which procured us a 
reproof which will not be lost upon us. 
She was very happy in the enjoyment of 
some of her favourite objects, crying out 
" Here come the lights ! This is a beauti- 
ful light ! It is the quiet, steady, silent 
light !" And then she described other 



kinds, and lastly one leaping up behind 
the steady light, and shining like the rays • 
of the sun before the sun itself is visible. 
When this rapture had gone on some time, 
she was asked, " What is the use of these 
lights, if they show us nothing of what we 
want ■?" In a tone of gentle remonstrance, . 
she said earnestly, "Ah! — but you must 
have patience !" 

And patience comes with experience^ 
We soon find that such extraordinary 
things drop out when least expected, and 
all attempts to govern or lead the results 
and the power are so vain, that we learn 
to wait, and be thankful for what comes. 

The first desire of every witness is to 
make out what the power of the Mesmerist 
is, and how it acts. J. seems to wish to 
discover these points ; and she also strug- 
gles to convey what she knows upon them. 
She frequently uses the act of mesmeri- 
zing another person, as soon as the sleep 
becomes deep ; and if not deep enough to 
please her, she mesmerizes herself, — using 
manipulations which she can never have 
witnessed. Being asked about the nature 
of the best mesmeric efforts, she replied 
that every power of body and mind is used,, 
more or less, in the operation ; but that 
the main thing is to desire strongly the 
effect to be produced. The patient should 
do the same. 

" People may be cured who do not be- 
lieve in the influence ; but much more 
easily if they do." 

" What is the influence ■?" 

" It is something which the Mesmerizer 
throws from him ; but I cannot say what." 

And this was all that evening; for she 
observed, (truly) "It is a few minutes past 
the half hour; but I'll just sleep a few 
minutes longer." 

" Shall I wake you then^' 

" No, thank you ; I'll wake myself." 
And she woke up accordingly, in four min- 
utes more. Another evening, " Do the 
minds of the Mesmerist and the patient 
become one !" 

" Sometimes, but not often." 

" Is it then that they taste, feel, &c., the 
same things at the same moment?" 

"Yes." 

" Will our minds become one 1" 

" I think not." 

" What are your chief powers V 

" I like to look up, and see spiritual 
things. I can see diseases : and I like to 
see visions." 

When asked repeatedly whether she 
could read with her eyes shut, see things 
behind her, &c., she has always replied 
that she does not like that sort of thing, 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



15 



and will not do it: — she likes "higher 
things." And when asked how she sees 
them — 

" I see them, not like dreams in common 
sleep, — but things out of other worlds ; — 
not the things themselves, but impressions 
of them. They come through my brain." 

" Mesmerism composes the mind, and 
separates it from the common things of 
every day." 

" Will it hurt your Mesmerist ?" 

" It is good for her. It exercises some 
powers of body and mind, which would 
otherwise lie dormant. It gives her mind 
occupation, and leads her to search into 
things." 

" Can the mind hear otherwise than by 
the ear." 

" Not naturally ; but a deaf person can 
hear the Mesmerist, when in the sleep ; — 
not any body else, however." 

" How is it that you can see without 
your eyes V 

" Ah ! that is a curious thing. I have 
not found it out yet." — Again, when she 
said her time was up, but she would sleep 
ten minutes longer. 

" Shall I leave you, and mesmerize Miss 
M.V 

" No : I should jump about and follow 
you. I feel so queer when you go away ! 
The influence goes all away. — It does so 
when you talk with another." 

"What is the influenced" &c. &c., as 
before. 

" I have seen a many places since I was 
mesmerized ; but they all go away when 
I wake. They are like a vision, — not a 
common dream." 

"How do you see these? Does the 
influence separate soul and body !" 

" No : it sets the body to rest ; exalts 
and elevates the thinking powers." 

When marking, from her attitude and 
expression of countenance, the eagerness 
of her mind, and vividness of her feelings, 
and when listening to the lively or solemn 
tones of her voice, I have often longed 
that she had a more copious vocabulary. 
Much has probably been lost under the 
words " queer," " beautiful," " something," 
"a thing," &c., which would have been 
clearly conveyed by an educated person. 
Yet some of her terms have surprised us, 
from their unsuitableness to her ordinary 
language ; and particularly her understand- 
ing and use of some few, now almost ap- 
propriated by Mesmerism. On one of the 
earliest days of her sleep, before we had 
learned her mesmeric powers and habits, 
she was asked one evening, after a good 
deal of questioning. 

" Does it tire you to be asked questions *?" 

"No." 

" WiU it spoil your lucidity V 

" No." — Whereat I made a dumb sign 
to ask her what " lucidity" meant. 



" Brightness," she instantly answered. 

In the course of the day, her Mesmerist" 
asked her carelessly, as if' for present con^ 
venience, if she could tell her the meaning 
of the word " lucidity." 

J. looked surprised, and said, " I am sure, 
ma'am, I don't know. I don't think I ever 
heard the word." 

W^hen asleep the next day, she was again 
asked, , 

" Does it hurt your lucidity to be asked 
many questions'?" 

"When not very deep in sleep, it does." 

" What is lucidity ?" 

"Brightness, clearness, light shining 
through. I told you that yesterday." 

" Have you looked for the word since V^ 

" No : and I shall not know it when I 
am awake." 

Though usually disdaining to try to read 
with the eyes shut, &c., she has twice writ- 
ten when desired, — (complaining, when her 
eyes were fast shut, and her chair was al- 
most in the dark, that she could not see 
well, meaning that there was too much 
light,) and once she drew a church and a 
ship,.about as well as she might have done 
it with open eyes. She drew the ship in 
separate parts, saying that she would put 
them together afterwards. 

In this latter case, her eyes were ban- 
daged, as she complained it was so light 
she could not see : and then she complain- 
ed that the pencil given her would not 
mark, and tried to pull out the lead further, 
not being satisfied till her strokes were 
distinct. 

The only time, I think, that she has 
spoken of her own accord was one even- 
ing when she burst into a long story of a 
woman who lived in Tynemouth 200 years 
ago, who made " cataplasms" for the feet 
of a lame monk, and cured him ; for which 
act he requited her by denouncing her as 
a witch, and getting her ducked in the sea, 
and otherwise ill-used. 

" Now," said she, to her Mesmerist, " this- 
is the way they would have treated you 
then ; and maybe burnt you : but they 
know better now." 

She explained that she once read this 
in a book, " and just thought of it." At 
another time, she informed us that people 
now think bad things of Mesmerism ; but 
they will understand it better, and find 
what a blessing it is. 

When apologizing for continuing to sleep 
when she knew her appointed time was 
up, she declared, 

" I am so comfortable and so happjr, I 
thought I would sleep five or ten minutes 
longer ; but it is supper time ; and I have 
to go to the shop over the way. I should 
frighten people if I burst into the street 
(laughing) with my eyes shut. So I'll 
wake now." 

" First, tell us if your speaking of other 



16 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



things will prevent your telling us of dis- 
eases." 

" No : it is just as it comes ; — they will 
all come round again."— -She awoke di- 
rectly. 

Nothing is more obscure in our experi- 
ment with J., and, I believe, in most mes- 
meric cases, ihan the extent and character 
of the rapport, on which so much depends. 
At first, J. certainly heard and knew no- 
thing of what was going on but from her 
Mesmerist, unless expressly put en rapporL 
with another by the Mesmerist joining 
their hands. But, on scattei-ed occasions 
afterwards, she heard sounds to which she 
was insensible ia an earher stage. A Ger- 
man piano, playing in the garden, just un- 
der the window, was unheard by her, on 
one of the early days of her somnambu- 
lism; while lately, some music in the next 
house set her suddenly to work to imitate 
all the instruments of an orchestra, and 
finally the bagpipes, which she imitates 
con amove whenever she is in a merry 
mood. The same music carried her in 
fancy into a ball room ; and we were fa- 
voured with the whole detail of who was 
there, and with seeing at least, her dancing. 
On another occasion, she was disturbed 
and annoyed by a slight noise over head, 
saying that it thundered, and then that the 
house was coming down. What is more 
remarkable, — I have observed, of late, the 
influence of my own mind over her, while 
no rapport is purposely established be- 
tween us, and she certainly hears nothing 
of what 1 say. Not only has she said 
things apropos to what I am silently think- 
ing ; but, for a succession of evenings, 
she awoke suddenly, and in the midst of 
eager talk, or of deep sleep with her eyes 
closed, — I being behind her chair, — on my 
pointing to the watch, or merely thinking 
determinately that it was time she was 
awake. As for her being awakened by 
the silent will of her Mesmerist, that is an 
experience so common, an effect so inva- 
riable, that we hardly think of recording 
it ; but that she should ever, however ir- 
regularly, wake, for a succession of even- 
ings, at the will of one not consciously en 
rappm-t with her, seems worthy of note, as 
unusual in mesmeric experiments. 

Another incident is note-worthy in this 
■connexion. A gentleman was here one 
evening, who was invited in all good faith, 
'On his declaration that he had read all that 
had been written on Mesmerism, knew all 
about it, and was philosophically curious 
to witness the phenomena. He is the 
only witness we have had who abused 
the privilege. I was rather surprised to 
see how, being put in communication with 
J., he wrenched her arm, and employed 
usage which would have been cruelly 
rough in her ordinary state; but I sup- 
posed ;* was because he " knew all about 



it," and found that she was insensible to 
his rudeness; and her insensibility was so 
obvious, that I hardly regretted it. At 
length, however, it became clear that his 
sole idea was (that which is the sole idea 
of so many who cannot conceive of what 
they caimot explain,) of detecting sham- 
ming ; and, in pursuance of this aim, this 
gentleman, who "knew all about it," vio- 
lated the first rule of mesmeric practice, 
by suddenly and violently seizing the sleep- 
er's arm, without the intervention of the 
Mesmerist. J. was convulsed and writhed 
in her chair. At that moment, and while 
supposing himself en rapport with her, he 
shouted out to me that the house was on 
fire. Happily, this brutal assault on her 
nerves failed entirely. There was cer- 
tainly nothing congenial in the rap-port. 
She made no attempt to rise from her 
seat, and said nothing, — clearly heard no- 
thing; and when asked what had fright- 
ened her, said something cold had got 
hold of her. Cold indeed ! and very hard 
too! 

One singular evidence of rapport be- 
tween J. and her Mesmerist I have wit- 
nessed under such unexceptionable cir- 
cumstances as to be absolutely sure of it. 
When J. was dancing, and taking this room 
for a ball-room, she took her Mesmerist 
for her partner, allov/ed herself to be con-, 
ducted to a seat, &c., assuming a ball-room 
air, which was amusing enough in one 
with her eyes sealed up, as motionless as 
if they were never again to open. Being 
offered refreshment, she cho.'je some mes- 
merized water, a glass of which was on 
the table, prepared for me. It seemed to 
exhilarate her, and she expressed great 
relish of the *' refreshment." It struck 
us that we would try, another evening, 
whether her Mesmerist's will could affect 
her sense of taste. In her absence, we 
agreed that the water should be silently 
willed to be sherry the next night. To 
make the experiment as clear as possible, 
the water was first oflfered to her, and a 
little of it drank as water. Then the rest 
was, while still in her hands, silently willed 
to be sherry ; she drank it off, — half a 
tumbler full — declared it very good ; but, 
presently, that it made her tipsy. What 
was it ? " Wine — white wine." And she 
became exceedingly merry and voluble, 
but refused to rise from her chair, or dance 
any more, or go down stairs, for she could 
not walk steady, and should fall and spoil 
her face, and moreover frighten them all 
below. I afterwards asked her Mesmeiisc 
to let it be porter the next night. J. knew 
nothing of porter, it seems, but called her 
refreshment " a nasty sort of beer." Of 
late she has ceased to know and tell the 
time, — "can't see the clock-face," as she 
declares. The greatest aptitude at present 
seems to be for being affected by metals, 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



17 



and for the singular muscular rigidity pro- 
ducible in the mesmeric sleep. 

When her arms or hands are locked in 
ithis rigidity, no force used by any gentle- 
man who has seen the case can separate 
them ; and in her waking state she has 
certainly no such muscular force as could 
resist what has been ineffectually used in 
her sleeping state. The rigid limbs then 
appear like logs of wood, which might be 
broken, but not bent; but a breath from 
her Mesmerist on what is called by some 
phrenologists the muscular organ, causes 
the muscles to relax, the fingers to unclose, 
and the limbs to fall into the attitude of 
sleep. During these changes, the placid 
sleeping face seems not to belong to the 
owner of the distorted and rigid limbs, till 
these last slide into their natural positions, 
and restore the apparent harmony. 

Not less curious is it to see her inextri- 
cable gripe of the steel snuffers, or the 
poker, detached by a silent touch of the 
steel with gold. When no force can 
■wrench or draw the snuffers from her 
grasp, a gold pencil-case or a sovereign 
stealthily made to touch the point of the 
snuffers, causes the fingers to unclasp, and 
the hands to fall. We have often put a 
gold watch into her hands, and, when the 
gripe is firm, her mermerist winds the gold 
chain round something of steel. In a min- 
ute or less occurs the relaxation of the 
fingers, and the watch is dropped into the 
liand held beneath. While grasping these 
metals she sometimes complains that they 
have burnt her. 

She is now also becoming subject to the 
numbness, the kind of insensibility which 
has already been proved such a blessing 
to sufferers under severe pain, whether of 
surgical operations or disease. It seems 
as if she were going the whole round of 
phenomena. Where it will end time must 
show ; meanwhile, we have the pleasure 
of seeing her in continually improving 



health, and so sensible of the blessing as 
to be anxious to impart the knowledge 
and experience of it to others. 

I have said nothing of Phrenology in 
connexion with Mesmerism, though it is 
thought by those who understand both bet- 
ter than I do, that they are hardly separa- 
ble. I have no other reason for speaking 
of Mesmerism by itself than that I am not 
qualified to give any facts or opinions on 
phrenological phenomena induced by Mes- 
merism. 

The only fact I have witnessed (proba- 
bly because we do not know how to look 
for evidence) in the course of our ex- 
periment was amusing enough, but too 
isolated to base any statement on. J. 
appeared one day to be thrown into a 
paroxysm of order, when that organ was 
the part mesmerized. She was almost ir 
a frenzy of trouble that she could not 
make two pocket-handkerchiefs lie flat 
and measure the same size ; and the pas- 
sion with which she arranged everything 
that lay a-wry was such as is certainly 
never seen in any waking person. This 
fit of order was curious and striking as far 
as it went ; and this is all I am at present 
qualified to say. 

We note that J. can tell nothing con- 
cerning any stranger ; and that her insight 
appears clear in proportion as her affec- 
tions are interested. We have tried her 
clairvoyance, by agreement with friends 
at a distance, strangers to her, and have 
failed, as we deserved. I hopo; we shall 
have the wisdom and self-command hence- 
forth to prescribe nothing to a power so 
obscure, and, at present, beyond our dicta- 
tion. We can summon and dismiss it, and 
may therefore contemplate it without fear. 
But we have no power over the nature of 
its manifestations. Our business, there- 
fore, is humbly and patiently to wait for 
them; and, when obtained, diligently to 
use our reason in the study of them. 



18 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



LETTER V. 



Tynemouth, Nov. 23, 1844. 

I HAVE related the two cases which are 
absolutely known to me ; and I shall refer 
to no more. If a few of the many who 
are now enjoying the results of mesmer- 
ic treatment would plainly relate exactly 
what they have felt and seen, putting aside 
all personal repugnance, and despising all 
imputations of egotism, &c., there would 
presently be more temper and more wis- 
dom in the reception of the subject by 
many who have no knowledge upon it. 

What should be the mind and temper of 
those who know the truth of Mesmerism, 
and of those who do not"? These two 
classes appear to me to comprehend all : 
for I am not aware that any competent per- 
son has ever studied the facts without ad- 
milting their truth, under one name or ano- 
ther. 

The celebrated French Commission of 
1784, so much vaunted as the finishing foe 
of Mesmerism, till the Report of a second 
Commission, in 1831, advocated it, admit- 
ted the facts ; denying only the theory with 
which they were saddled. No objections 
that I have heard or read of, go to touch 
the facts, — that a large variety of diseases 
have been cured by mesmeric treatment, 
— infirmities ameliorated or removed, — 
surgical operations rendered painless, — 
and a sympathy induced between two or 
more persons resembling no other relation 
known : — that a state of somnambulism is, 
in many patients, producible at pleasure, 
in which the mind is capable of operations 
impossible (as far as we know) in any other 
conditions ; and that this state of somnam- 
bulism is usually favourable to the remo- 
val of disease, while no pernicious elfects 
are traceable, under the ordinary prudence 
used in administering all the powers of na- 
ture. These facts, I believe, are denied 
by none who have really investigated them. 
The denial met with from those who 
have witnessed no course of mesmeric 
facts needs no notice. Opinion cannot 
exist where the materials are wanting. 
Those who have gathered no such materi- 
als may believe, on adequate testimony ; 
but they are not competent to deny. The 
only ground on which such denial could be 
pretended, — natural impossibility, — clear 
contradiction to the ascertained laws of 
nature, — does not exist in regard to the dis- 
covery of a hidden power of nature. The 
only deniers who can claim attention, are 
those who have looked into Mesmerism 
through a range of facts. 

And these deny, not the facts which are 
the basis of the pretensions of Mesmerism, 
but everything else. They see imposture 
(though much less than they suppose), and I 



they very properly denounce and expose 
it. — They see failures, and laugh or are 
indignant, forgetting that a thousand fail- 
ures do not in the least affect the evidence 
of one success in the use of a power not 
otherwise attainable. Putting aside all acts 
of pretended prevision and insight which 
could come within the range of chance, one 
act of prevision or insight stands good 
against any number of failures. The de- 
niers see performances got up by itinerant 
Mesmerists — shows to which people are 
admitted for money ; and they naturally 
express disgust ; but this disgust applies 
not to Mesmerism, but to its abuse by the 
mercenary. They see manifestations, bo- 
dily and mental, which exceed all their 
experience and preconceptions of human 
powers and methods, — and even contradict 
them ; for few of us are aware how human 
experience and preconception are perpetu- 
ally awaiting correction and amendment 
from the future : — they deny the cause and 
the means of such manifestations, — resort 
to extravagant suppositions of tortured per- 
sons assuming, against all inducements, an 
appearance of ease and enjoyment, — of 
honest people becoming sudden knaves, 
against reason, conscience, and interest ; — 
of ignorant people being possessed of pre- 
ternatural hidden knowledge ; — of scores 
and hundreds of children taken from the 
street, of simple and ignorant men and wo- 
men in quiet homes, being all, invariably 
and without concert, found capable of such 
consummateacting, command of frame and 
countenance, and such fidelity to nature as 
were never equalled on the stage. They 
see the sick and "suffering risen from the 
depths of disease, and enjoying health and 
vigour ; and when it is not possible to deny 
the disease or the recovery (which, how- 
ever, is attempted to the last moment) they 
give an old name to the agency, — call it 
Will or Imagination, and suppose they have 
denied Mesmerism. And so, when they 
see the lame walk, and the deaf hear, they 
talk of " predisposing causes," " efforts of 
Nature," and consider the matter disposed 
of. Extravagant theorists there are indeed 
connected, in more ways than one, with 
Mesmerism ; it is a fault common on every 
hand ; but assuredly the wildest theorists 
of all are they who assume many moral 
impossibilities in order to evade a fact be- 
fore their eyes. Of the infinite ingenuity 
of denial all have enjoyed displays who, 
like me, have been raised up by Mesmer- 
ism. We all hear, from one side or anoth- 
er, that we were getting well a year ago, 
and would not exert ourselves; — that long 
tried medicines began to act weeks or 
months after they were discontinued ; that 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



19 



our diseases went away of themselves ; 
that we are mistaken in believing ourselves 
well now ; that it is not Mesmerism, but 
Will in the Mesmerist, and Imagination in 
ourselves, that has given us health. It is 
easy enough, if it were worth while, to an- 
swer these, — to bring evidence that we 
were ill at such a date, and show that we 
are well now ; — to ask whether it is prob- 
able that in twenty or fifty cases of deep 
and hopeless disease, there should be " an 
effort of Nature," apart from Mesmerism, 
at the very moment that Mesmerism is 
tried, and to ask what " an effort of Na- 
ture" means ; to point out that if Will and 
Imagination can really make the deaf and 
dumb hear and speak, disperse dropsies, 
banish fever, asthma, and paralysis, absorb 
tumours, and cause the severance of nerve, 
bone, and muscle to be unfelt, we need not 
quarrel about words : — let these blessed re- 
sults be referred to any terms you please : 
only, in that case, some new name must 
be found for the old understood functions 
of the Imagination and the Will. 

Denial thus reaching only the means, 
and not the facts, it seems time for those 
who really pretend to a desire to know to 
consider what they must do next. Are 
they prepared with Newton's method, — to 
sit down patiently before the great sub- 
ject, watching and waiting for knowledge 
to arise and come forth? Are they prac- 
tised in the golden rule of inquiry, not to 
wish truth to be on the one side or the 
other ■? Is their temper as serious as is re- 
quired by an occasion so solemn, — by an 
inquiry whether human beings have, in re- 
gard to each other, a health-giving, a life- 
reviving power, a stupendous power of vo- 
lition, — a power of exciting faculties of 
prescience and insight, and some others 
too awful to be lightly named 1 ! when 
one considers the scope of this inquiry, the 
solemnity of the question, whether true 
or false, the laugh of the ignorant, the lev- 
ity of the careless, the scorn of the preju- 
diced, the hardness and perversity of the 
intellectually proud, sound in one's ears 
like the babble and false mirth of a mad- 
house ! While we look back to Laplace 
receiving all pertaining testimony from all 
time, and declaring to Chenevix that " ap- 
plying to Mesmerism his own principles 
and formulas respecting human evidence, 
he could not withhold his assent to what 
was so strongly supported," we can but 
contrast with his the spirit and method of 
modern doctors, who undertake to pre- 
scribe the conditions of the phenomena of 
this mysterious power on the first occasion 
of their attendance on it; and if their pre- 
cious conditions are declined, or unfulfil- 
led, denounce the whole as imposture or 
nonsense. Where Newton would have 
humbly watched the manifestations of Na- 
ture, and Laplace philosophically weighed 



the testimony of men, our modern inqui- 
rers instruct Nature what she shall do to 
obtain their suffrage ; and. Nature, not 
deigning to respond, they abide by their 
own negative ignorance, rather than the 
positive testimony of history and a living 
multitude. Cuvier speaks on Mesmerism : 
and who has more title to be listened to ! 
He says, " Cependant les effets obtenus sur 
despersonnesdejasansconnaissance avant 
que I'operation commencjat, ceux que out 
lieu sur les autres personnes apres que 
I'operation raSme leur a fait perdre con- 
naissance, et ceux que presentent les ani- 
maux, ne permettent gueres de douter que 
la proxiraite de deux corps animes dans 
certaines positions et avec certain mouve- 
ments, n'ait un effet reel, independant de 
toute participation de Timagination d'une 
des deux. II paroit assez clairement aussi 
que ces eflfets sont dus a une communica- 
tion quelconque qui s'etablit entre leurs 
systemes nerveux." (Anatomie Compa- 
ree, torn. II. p. 117. " Du systeme nerv- 
eux considere en action.") Contrast with 
Cuvier examining, inferring, and avowing, 
our London philosophers asking for a sign, 
exulting if none be vouchsafed, and if one 
be given, unable to see it through the blan- 
ket of their scepticism. One thing such in- 
quirers have made plain to persons a de- 
gree wiser than themselves. Children and 
other superficial thinkers are puzzled at a 
few passages in the gospels about belief; 
passages which seem to them, iflhey dared 
say so, contrary to all sense and reason : 
those passages which tell that no sign was 
given, few mighty works were done, be- 
cause of the unbelief of the people. To the 
inexperienced, this appears precisely the 
reason why more signs and wonders should 
be given. But another passage conveys 
the reason : " Having eyes they see not, 
having ears they hear not, neither do they 
understand," «fec. It is a deep philosophi- 
cal truth, implied in these words, and es- 
tablished afresh during every process of 
great natural discovery, that simple faith 
is as necessary to the perception and re- 
ception of truth as sound reason ; that in- 
tellectual pride and prejudice is as fatal to 
the acquisition of true knowledge as blind 
credulity. The very senses become false 
informers, the very faculties traitors, when 
the intellect has lost its rectitude of humil- 
ity, patience, and loyalty to truth. The 
signs and wonders of science, like those 
of the great Teacher, are absolutely lost 
upon the insolent and sceptical, — the Phar- 
isees and Sadducees of every place and 
age, — and should never be yielded to their 
requisition. They can avail at all only to 
the teachable ; and they can avail fully 
only to those who believed before. 

The true spirit in which inquirers should 
approach the experiments of Mesmerism 
is suggested by Laplace's words in relation 



20 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



to our subject, in his Essay on Probabili- 
ties, " Nous sommes si loin de connaitre 
tous les agens de la Nature, et leurs divers 
modes d'action, qu'il serait pen philoso- 
phique de nier les phenomenes, unique- 
ment parcequ'ils sont inexplicable dans 
I'etat actuel de nos connaissances." 

There being nothing palpably absurd on 
the face of the subject, — only strange, un- 
thought-of, and overwhelming to minds 
unaccustomed to the great ideas of Nature 
and Philosophy, the claims of Mesmerism 
to a calm and philosophical investigation 
are imperative. No philosopher can gain- 
say this; and if I vs'ere to speak as a mor- 
alist on the responsibility of the savans of 
society to the multitude — if I were to un- 
veil the scenes which are going forward 
in every town in England from the wan- 
ton, sportive, curious, or mischievous use 
of this awful agency by the ignorant, we 
should hear no more levity in high places 
about Mesmerism, — no more wrangling 
about the old or new names by which the 
influence is to be called, while the influ- 
ence itself is so popularly used with such 
fearful recklessness. 

Let the savans really inquire, and com- 
bine to do so. Experiment is here, of 
.course, the only means of knowledge. In- 
.stead of objecting to this, that, and the 
other theory, (all, probably, being objec- 
tionable enough,) let all thought of theory 
be put away till at least some store of va- 
ried fact^ is obtained under personal ob- 
servation. Few individuals have the leis- 
ure, and the command of Mesmerists and 
patients necessary for a sound set of ex- 
periments. Though some see reason to 
believe that every human being has the 
power of exciting, and the susceptibility 
of receiving, mesmeric influence, and thus 
a course of experiments might seem easy 
enough, it "is not so, any more than it is 
easy for us all to ascertain the composition 
of the atmosphere, because the air is all 
about us. Many and protracted conditions 
are necessary to a full and fair experi- 
ment, though brief and casual feats suffice 
to prove that " there is something in Mes- 
merism." Under the guidance of those 
who best understand the conditions, — the 
brave pioneers in this vast re-discovery, — 



let the process be begun, and let it be car- 
ried on till it is ascertained whether a sound 
theory can or cannot be obtained. To ask 
for such a theory in the first place is an 
absurdity which could hardly be credited 
but for its commonness. " Tell me what 
Mesmerism is first, and next what it pre- 
tends to, and then I will attend to it," has 
been said to me, and is said to many others 
who, declaring Mesmerism to be true, have 
no theory as to its nature, — no conjecture 
as to the scope of its operations. Some 
ask this in ignorance, others as an evasion. 
Wise inquirers will not ask it at all till a 
vast preparatory work is achieved, which 
it is both unphilosophical and immoral to 
neglect. There are hospitals among us, 
where it may be ascertained whether in- 
sensibility to extreme pain can be produ- 
ced. There are suff"erers in every one's 
neighbourhood, whose capability of re- 
covery by Mesmerism may be tested. And 
in the course of such benevolent experi- 
ments the ulterior phenomena of Mesmer- 
ism will doubtless occur, if they exist as 
commonly as is pretended. Let experi- 
ence, carefully obtained, be wisely collect- 
ed and philosophically communicated. If 
found untrue. Mesmerism may then be 
" exploded," — which it can never be by 
mere ignorant scorn and levity. If true, 
the world will be so much the better. When 
we consider that no physician in Europe 
above forty years of age when Harvey 
lived believed in the circulation of the 
blood, we shall not look for any philoso- 
phical inquiry into Mesmerism from estab- 
lished members of the profession, whose 
business it is to attend to it ; but happily, 
the young never fail. There is always a 
new generation rising up to emancipate the 
world from the prejudices of the last, 
(while originating new ones) ; and there 
are always a few disinterested, intrepid, 
contemplative spirits, cultivating the calm 
wisdom and bringing up the established 
convictions of the olden time, as material 
for the enthusiasm of the new, who may 
be relied on for maintaining the truth till 
they joyfully find that it has become too 
expansive for their keeping. The truth in 
question is safe, whether it be called Mes- 
merism, or by another and a better name. 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



21 



LETTER VI. 



TjTiemouth, Nov. 26, 1844. 

It may seem presumptuous in me to say 
anything about what the temper and con- 
duct of believers in Mesmerism should be, 
— so many of them as were bravely and 
benevolently enduring opposition and in- 
jury, while I was quietly lying by, out of 
sight, and unqualified to jom them, though 
steadily sympathizing with them. But my 
very position may perhaps enable me to 
see some considerations long left behind 
by the more advanced Mesmerists, and to 
indicate them for the benefit of novices, 
whose experience has not j^et led them up 
to my point of view. Besides, I have now 
a very vivid experience of my own. While 
sympathy in my release from pain and my 
recovered enjoyment of life flows in abun- 
dantly, I still have cause to feel, as num- 
bers have felt before me, that no one can 
sustain a mesmeric cure with entire impu- 
nity. When I think of the insults inflicted 
on many sufferers, of the innocent and 
truthful beings who, after long disease and 
the deprivation of a limb, have in addition 
to bear the cruel imputation of being liars 
and cheats because they could not say they 
had suflfered the pains of amputation, I feel 
as if I, and such as I, must be for ever 
dumb about such disbelief and misrepre- 
sentation as, for our small share, we meet 
with. But, without saying a word on that 
head, such experience may enable one to 
perceive and allege the things in the con- 
duct of the disciples of Mesmerism, which 
act unfavourably on their cause. There 
never was a great cause yet which did not 
suffer by some or other of its friends ; and 
while men are imperfect and frail, thus it 
will ever be. And again, there never were 
faithful asserters of a great truth, who were 
not glad to hear what are the difficulties 
and objections of those without,— who were 
not willing to listen to the representations 
of the most superficial of novices, — who, 
with nothing to say but what to them is 
trite, may yet revive a sense of the obsta- 
cles which beset the entrance of the sub- 
ject. 

I believe there is no doubt that the great- 
est of all injuries done to Mesmerism is by 
its itinerant advocates. This appears to 
be admitted by every body but the itiner- 
ants themselves ; and none lament the 
practice so deeply as the higher order of 
Mesmerists. Among the itinerants there 
are doubtless some honest men, as entire- 
ly convinced of the truth of what they 
teach and exhibit as the physician who re- 
fuses fees in mesmeric cases, and the 
brethren and sisters of charity who sacri- 
fice everything to do good by their know- 
ledge and power in Mesmerism. But no 



man of enlarged views, of knowledge at 
all adequate to the power he wields, would 
venture upon the perilous rashness of ma- 
king a pubhc exhibition of the solemn won- 
ders yet so new and impressive, of play- 
ing upon the brain and nerves of human 
beings, exhibiting for money on a stage 
states of mind and soul held too sacred in 
olden times to be elicited elsewhere than 
in temples, by the hands of the priests of 
the gods. This sacredness still pertains to 
these mysterious manifestations, as indi- 
cating secrets of humaa nature of which 
we have only fitful glimpses. It is true, 
the blame of their desecration rests with 
the learned men who ought to have shown 
themselves wise in relation to a matter so 
serious, and to have taken the investiga- 
tion into their own hands. It is they who 
are answerable for having turned over the 
subject to the fanatical and the vulgar. It is 
they who have cast this jewel of know- 
ledge and power into the lap of the igno- 
rant ; and no one can wonder that it is 
bartered for money and notoriety. The 
spectacle is a disgusting and a terrible one, 
— disgusting as making a stimulating pub- 
lic show of what cannot be witnessed in 
the quietest privacy without emotions of 
awe, and the strongest disposition to re- 
serve ; — and, terrible as making^ common 
and unclean that which at least at present, 
is sanctified by mystery, by complete un- 
fitness for general use. It is urged that 
public exhibitions of mesmeric phenomena 
attract much attention to the subject, and 
cause many to become ultimately convin- 
ced, who might otherwise have had no 
knowledge of the matter. This may be 
true ; but what an amount of mischief is 
there to set off against this ! There is 
much more wonder, doubt, and disgust 
caused than conviction ; and the sort of con- 
viction so originated could, on the whole, 
be very well dispensed with. And there 
remains behind the social calamity of a 
promiscuous use of the ulterior powers of 
Mesmerism. When a general audience 
see the thing treated as a curious show on 
a stage, what wonder that the ignorant go 
home and make a curious show of it there ! 
While the wise, in whose hands this pow- 
er should be, as the priesthood to whom 
scientific mysteries are consigned by Prov- 
idence, scornfully decline their high func- 
tion, who are they that snatch at it, in sport 
or mischief, — and always in ignorance ? 
School children, apprentices, thoughtless 
women who mean no harm, and base men 
who do mean harm. Wherever itinerant 
Mesmerists have been are there such as 
these, throwing each other into trances, 
trying funny experiments, getting fortune 



23 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



told, or rashly treating diseases. It would 
be someihing gained if the honest among 
these lecturers could be taught and con- 
vinced that they had better be quiet, and 
let the matter alone, rather than propagate 
Mesmerism by such a method. If they 
have not the means of advocating Mesmer- 
ism without taking money for it, they had 
better earn their bread in another way, and 
be satisfied with giving their testimony and 
using their powers, (as far as their know- 
ledge goes, and no further) gratuitously at 
home. 

The duty of those who understand the se- 
riousness of Mesmerism is, clearly to dis- 
countenance and protest against all such 
exhibitions, to discountenance all who ori- 
ginate, and all who attend them, as false to 
the truth sought, through incompetence or 
worse. 

The very best of the mesmeric brother- 
hood are liable to fall into one ever- open 
snare. Everybody interested in a great 
discovery is under a strong temptation to 
theorize too soon ; and those who oppose 
or do not understand Mesmerism are for 
ever trying to get us to theorize prema- 
turely. From the first day that my ex- 
periment was divulged to the present, the 
attempt has been renewed, till the appli- 
cation to me to announce a theory has be- 
come so ludicrously common, that I am in 
no danger of falling into the trap. I have 
had, not only to refuse to propose even a 
hypothesis, but to guard my language so 
carefully as that by no pretence of an in- 
ference could any be ascribed to me. I 
could wish that all who, like myself, know 
personally but a few facts, (however clear) 
were as careful about this as the occasion 
requires. Their notions of a transmission 
of a fluid, electric or other ; — of a condi- 
tional excitement in human beings of a 
power of control or stimulus of their own 
vital functions ; — of the mesmeric power 
residing in the Will of the Mesmerist, or 
in the Imagination or Will of the patient ; 
of some sympathetic function, express but 
obscure, and assigned to some unexplored 
region of the brain, — these notions, and 
many more, may each suit the phenomena 
which have come under the notice of the 
expounders ; but no one of them will hold 
good with all the facts that are established. 
The phenomena are so various, that it 
seems to me most improbable that we can 
yet be near the true theory ; to say noth- 
ing of what is very obvious — that the sup- 
positions offered are little but words. It 
would be time enough to show this, if the 
hypothesis would fit; but they do not. 
What becomes of the transmission of fluid 
when the Mesmerist acts, without concert, 
on a patient a hundred miles off? What 
becomes of the patient's power of Imagi- 
nation when he is mesmerized uncon- 
sciously'? and of the operator's power 



of Will when the Mesmerist is uninform- 
ed and obedient, acting in the dark, under 
the directions of the patient? and so on, 
through the whole array of theories. Now, 
it happens every day, that when objectors 
overthrow an offered theory, they are held 
by themselves, and everybody else but the 
really philosophical, to have overthrown 
the subject to which it relates. Thus is 
Mesmerism perpetually, as people say, 
overthrown; and though it is sure to be 
soon found standing, as it was before, on 
its basis of facts, and daily strengthened 
by new facts, yet it is obscured for the mo- 
ment by every passing fog of false reason- 
ing that is allowed to envelope it. 

Much mischief is done by a rash and 
hasty zeal in undertaking cases of sick- 
ness or infirmity. Some of the most ear- 
nest believers, anxious to afford proof to 
others, lay their hands on sick or well with- 
out duly considering whether they have 
health and power of body and mind, com- 
mand of time, patience and means, and of 
such knowledge as will obviate hesitation 
and flagging, and consequent failure in the 
treatment. This is far too light a use to 
be made of a power sacred to higher pur- 
poses than those of curiosity or mere as- 
sertion. And there cannot be too serious 
a preparation for its purer and higher use 
in the cure of disease. Ill-qualified agents 
are not permitted to administer any other 
geat natural power; and why should we 
permit ourselves to administer this influ- 
ence — to undertake to infuse health, to feed 
the vital principle, accepting any manifes- 
tations that may occur by the way, unless 
we know ourselves to be so strong in body 
and mind, so free from infirmity, so able to 
command leisure, as that we may reason- 
ably hope that the fountain of our influence 
will not intermit ? Persuasives to courage 
are little needed, for the sight of suffering 
inspires believers in Mesmerism with an 
almost irresistible desire to relieve the 
sick. There is abundance of benevolent 
impulse. What we want to make sure of 
is, calm foresight in undertaking serious 
cases, and strenuousness of patience in 
carrying them on ; and moreover, a steady 
refusal to lay hands on sick or well for 
purposes of amusement, or victory over 
unbelievers. These conditions being se- 
cured, I believe Mesmerism to be invaria- 
bly favourable in its operation, where it 
acts at all. I never heard of any harm • 
being done by it, where as much prudence 
was employed as we apply in the use of 
fire, water, and food. 

I will say little on one head, of which 
much is said to me — the tendency of the 
early holders of any discovery, or re-dis- 
covery, to overrate its influence on human 
affairs. The tendency is natural and com- 
rnon enough ; and time alone can prove 
whether there is folly in the believers in 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



23 



Mesmerism being so excited and engrossed 
as they are by what they see and learn. 
I am in too early a stage of the investiga- 
tion to be able to say anything that ought 
to be of weight on this head. I can only 
declare, while knowing myself to be in as 
calm, quiet, and serious a state of nerves 
and mind as I am capable of being, that I 
think it a mistake to say that Mesmerism 
will become merely one among a thousand 
curative means, and that it will not pro- 
duce any practical changes in the mutual 
relations of human beings. From what I 
have witnessed of the power of mind over 
body, and of mind over mind, and from what 
I have experienced of the exercise of the 
inner faculties under the operation of Mes- 
merism, I am persuaded that immense and 
inestimable changes wiil take place in the 
scope and destiny of the individual human 
being on earth, and in the relations of all. 
If it were proposed as an abstract ques- 
tion, every one would admit that the hu- 
man lot on earth might and must be incal- 
culably altered by the bestowment on hu- 
man beings of a new faculty, and also by 
such an exaltation of any existing faculty 
as must entirely change its scope and oper- 
ation. The case is the same, if any oc- 
cult inherent faculty becomes reachable — 
educible : and there are not a few subjects 
of Mesmerism who know that either this 
is the case, or that an existing faculty is 
exalted above their own recognition. Of 
those, 1 am one. We do not expect cre- 
dence when we say this ; for, by the very 
conditions of the experience, it is incom- 
municable. It is no help to the communi- 
cation to be met by the strongest faith and 
sympathy; for the very means of commu- 
nication are absent. The language which 
might convey it does not exist ; and the 
effort to explain ourselves is as useless 
and hopeless as for the born blind and deaf 
to impart to each other an experience of 
sounds and colours. Let me add, that it 
would be as reasonable for these blind and 
deaf to question each others' wits as for 
any who have never been mesmerized to 
doubt the sanity of those who come, calm 
and healthful, out of an experience of its 
nlterior states. My own conviction is, 
that when that region is purely attained, 
it is, and ever will be, found clear of all 
absurdities, delusions, and perturbations, 
where the faculties may enjoy their high- 
est health and exercise. I make this avow- 
al of what can never be substantiated in 
my favour for a practical object — that some 
one or more may be led to reflect on the 
origin of claims to divine inspiration, such 
as have, through all time, arisen in the 
world. If any one thoughtful mind is led 
on to a better solution than the universal 
suppositions of madness and imposture, 
there is so much the more hope that pre- 
tensions to divine inspiration will be trans- 



muted into something more true, and that 
much madness and imposture hitherto con- 
sequent on such pretensions may die out. 
I care nothing for any precipitate conclu- 
sions of the unaccustomed to such re- 
searches, in regard to my own wits, if I 
can lead one informed and philosophical 
intellect to consider afresh how little we 
yet comprehend of the words we are so 
often repeating — " We are fearfully and 
wonderfully made." 

From a point of contemplation like this, 
can it be needful to glance aside at our 
danger of bearing ourselves unworthily 
amidst the irritations of opposition and 
scorn that we have to encounter'? It is 
most needful to do more than glance at this 
danger — to regard it steadily. If we firm- 
ly hold our convictions, we cannot at all 
times maintain, without an effort the high 
ground on which they place us. It is new 
and painful to us to have our statements 
discredited to our faces — our understand- 
ings despised — some of our deepest sen- 
timents and most solemnly-acquired know- 
ledge made a jest of. Perhaps it is more 
painful still to find the facts for which we 
are the authorities twisted and misrepre- 
sented, instead of denied, and one of the 
most serious subjects that ever has occu- 
pied, or can occupy, the attention of man- 
kind treated with a levity which, though we 
know it to be mere ignorance, is to us pro- 
faneness. I say, "we" in this connexion, 
though I have met with less than my fair 
proportion of this kind of trial, owing to 
previous circumstances, which have no 
connexion with my present testimony. I 
say " we" because I wish to cast in my 
lot with my fellow-believers for the pains 
and penalties of faith in Mesmerism which 
yet remain, if indeed I may be permitted 
the honour of sharing them with the ear- 
lier confessors, who have suffered and 
sacrificed more in the cause than now 
remains to be suffered and sacrificed by 
any number of later disciples. I say 
"we," also, because I need, as much as 
any one, plain monitions as to the spirit 
in which the truths of Mesmerism ought 
to be held. 

Seeing, as we do at times, how many 
there are who cannot believe in anything 
so out of their way, how many who cannot 
see what is before their eyes, or hear what 
meets their ears, or understand what offers 
itself to their understandings, through pre- 
conceptions and narrow and rigid habits of 
mind — how many who cannot retain the 
convictions of the hour, but go home and 
shake them all out of their minds on the 
way, or throw them overboard at the first 
jest they hear — how the cold and passion- 
less pass through life without any sense 
of its commonest, but deepest and highest 
mysteries ; — knowing these things in our 
soberest moments, why cannot we bear 



24 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



them about with us amidst the oppositions 
we meet with in society? Wliy should 
we chafe ourselves because minds are not 
all of the same rank and qualit)', or inter- 
ested in the same pursuits — as if truth 
could not wait to be apprehended, and 
privilege to be accepted 1 On behalf of 
the sick and mutilated, who, in addition to 
their pain and infirmity, have to bear in- 
sult and calumny, some indignation may 
be allowed ; but for ourselves, we should 
be at once too humble and too proud to 
entertain it : too humble on the ground of 
our exceedingly imperfect knowledge, and 
too highly graced by our privilege of such 
knowledge as we have to deprecate the dis- 
pleasure of others at our use of it. Though 
I have had more cause for grateful surprise 
at the candour and sympathy I have met 
with, than for regret at short-comings of 
temper among my friends, there was a 
season when the following words, in a let- 
ter from a friend (one who was restored to 
health through Mesmerism, when such an 
experience involved much more moral suf- 
fering than now), went to my heart with 
most affecting force : — " Is it needless (if 
so, forgive me) to beg you to seek patience 
when you find people will disbelieve their 
own eyes and ears 1 My experience is not 
less close or heartfelt than yours, though 
I had not to be relieved from actual pain. 
At first, it made tears come to my heart 
when others were not grateful in my way 
for my cure ; and rather indignant was I 
too when they doubted my statements ; but 
do not you be like what I was. [Would I 
were !] Why should we be believed more 
than those of old, who were disbelieved 1 
and do not men act according to their na- 
tures ? Is there child-like faith on the 
earth, any more in these than in former 

days ? If there were, would not and 

have believed even poor honest me 1" 

A postscript to this letter carries us on 
to the thought of our privileges : — " I ob- 
serve that you see and feel the beauty which 
it is useless to talk of to unbelievers." 
Yes, indeed ! and when the word " com- 
pensation" rises to ray lips, I put it down 
as an expression of ingratitude, — so little 
proportion can our vexations bear to our 
gains — so insignificant is this sprinkling of 
tares amidst the harvest to which we are 
putting our hands. 

Perhaps it is better not to enter upon any 
account of what it is to see the purest hu- 



man ministering that can be beheld — a. 
ministering which has all affection, and no 
instinct in it — where the power follows the 
course of the affections, and proceeds with 
them " from strength to strength," the be- 
nevolence invigorated by its own good 
deeds, and invigorating in its turn the be- 
nign influence. Time, and a wise and prin- 
cipled use of this yet obscure power, will 
show how far it can go in spreading among' 
the human family a beneficent and uniting 
ministration, by which a singularly close 
spiritual sympathy, enlightened and guard- 
ed by insight, may be attained. There is 
moral beauty, acting through physical ame- 
lioration, in the means, and the extremes! 
conceivable moral beauty in the anticipa- 
ted end. To witness and contemplate these 
means and this end is a privilege better in- 
dicated than expatiated on. Such brethren 
and sisters'of charity as the world has yet 
known have won the reverence and affec- 
tion of all hearts. There is beauty in the 
spectacle and contemplation of a new and 
higher order of these arising, to achieve, 
with equal devotedness, a more efficacious 
and a more elevated labour of love and 
piety. 

A consideration more clearly open to 
general sympathy (at least, the general 
sympathy of the wise) is, that, through all 
time, the privilege rests with the believers, 
and not with those who, for any cause, can- 
not enter into new truth. Affirmative con- 
viction is, here, as we may suppose it may 
be hereafter, the chief of blessings, and 
the securest, when it is reached at once 
through the unclouded reason and the in- 
genuous heart. The possession of this 
blessing has oftentimes been found a trea- 
sure, for which it was easy to lose the 
whole world, and possible to meet per- 
secution, isolation, the consuming of the 
body, and the racking of the affections, with 
steadiness and serenity. What ought now, 
then, to be complained of as the natural 
cost of our portion of this blessing ] Com- 
plaint, regret, is not to be thought of. To 
know certainly any new thing of human 
nature — to believe firmly any great purpose 
of human destiny — is a privilege so inesti- 
mable, adds such a value to the individual 
life of each of us, such a sacredness to col- 
lective human existence, that the liabilities 
to which it subjects us should pervert our 
minds no more than motes should distort 
the sunbeams. 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



25 



LETTER VII. 



Tynemouth, Nov. 28, 1844. 

Many persons suppose that when the 
truth, use, and beauty of Mesmerism are 
established, all is settled ; that no further 
ground remains for a rejection of it. My 
own late experience, and my observation 
of what is passing abroad, convince me 
that this is a mistake. I know that there 
are many who admit the truth and function 
of Mesmerism, who yet discountenance it- 
I know that the repudiation of it is far more 
extensive than the denial. It gives me pain 
to hear this fact made the occasion of con- 
temptuous remark, as it is too often by such 
as know Mesmerism to be true. The re- 
pudiation I speak of proceeds from minds 
of a high order ; and their superstition (if 
superstition it be) should be encounter- 
ed with better weapons than the arro- 
gant compassion which I have heard ex- 
pressed. 

I own I have less sympathy with those 
who throw down their facts before the 
world, and then despise all who will not be 
in haste to take them up, than with some 
I know of, who would seriously rather suf- 
fer to any extent, than have recourse to re- 
lief which they believe unauthorised; who 
would rather that a mystery remained sa- 
cred than have it divulged for their own 
benefit : who tell me to my face that they 
would rather see me sent back to my 
couch of pain than witness any tamper- 
ing with the hidden things of Providence. 
There is a sublime rectitude of sentiment 
here, which commands and wins one's 
reverence and sympathy ; and if the facts 
of the history and condition of Mesmer- 
ism would bear out the sentiment, no one 
would more cordially respond to it than 
I — no one would have been more scru- 
pulous about procuring recovery by such 
means — no one would have recoiled with 
more fear and disgust from the work of 
making known what I have experienced 
and learned. But I am persuaded that a 
knowledge of existing facts clears up the 
duty of the case, so as to prove that the 
sentiment must, while preserving all its 
veneration and tenderness, take a new 
direction, for the honour of God and the 
safety of man. 

Granting to all who wish that the pow- 
ers and practice of Mesmerism (for which 
a better name is sadly wanted) are as old 
as man and society ; that from age to age 
there have been endowments and func- 
tions sacred from popular use, and there- 
fore committed by providential authority 
to the hands of a sacred class ; that the ex- 
istence of mysteries ever has been, and 
probably must ever be, essential to the 
spiritual welfare of man ; that there should 
D 



ever be a powerful sentiment of sanctity 
investing the subject of the ulterior pow- 
ers of immortal beings in their mortal 
state ; that it is extremely awful to wit- 
ness, and much more to elicit, hidden fac- 
ulties, and to penetrate by their agency in 
to regions of knowledge otherwise unat- 
tainable ; — admitting all these things, still 
the facts of the present condition of Mes- 
merism in this country, and on two conti- 
nents, leave to those who know them, no 
doubt of the folly and sin of turning away 
from the study of the subject. It is no 
matter of choice whether the subject shall 
remain sacred — a deposit of mystery in 
the hands of the Church — as it was in the 
Middle Ages, and as the Pope and ma- 
ny Protestants would have it still. The 
Pope has issued an edict against the study 
and practice of Mesmerism in his domin- 
ions ; and there are some members of the 
Church of England who would have the 
same suppression attempted by means of 
ecclesiastical and civil law at home. But 
for this it is too late : the knowledge and 
practice are all abroad in society ; and they 
are no more to be reclaimed than the wa- 
ters, when out in floods, can be gathered 
back into reservoirs. The only effect of 
such prohibitions would be to deter from 
the study of Mesmerism, the very class 
who should assume its administration, and 
to drive disease, compassion, and curiosity 
into holes and corners to practice as a sin 
what is now done openly and guiltlessly, 
however recklessly, through an ignorance 
for which the educated are responsible. 
The time past for facts of natural philos- 
ophy to be held at discretion by priest- 
hoods ; for any facts which concern all 
human beings to be a deposit in the hands 
of any social class. Instead of re-enact- * 
ing the scenes of old — setting up temples 
with secret chambers, oracles, and mirac- 
ulous ministrations — instead of reviving 
the factitious sin and cruel penalties of 
witchcraft, (all forms assumed by mes- 
meric powers and faculties in different 
times), instead of exhibiting false myste- 
ries in an age of investigation, it is clearly 
our business to strip false mysteries of 
their falseness, in order to secure due re- 
verence to the true, of which there will 
ever be no lack. Mystery can never fail 
while man is finite : his highest faculties 
of faith will, through all time and all eter- 
nity, find ample exercise in waiting on 
truths above his ken : there will ever be 
in advance of the human soul a region 
" dark through excess of light ;" while all 
labour spent on surrounding clear facts 
with artificial mystery is just so much 
profane effort spent in drawing minds 



26 



MISS MARTINEAU'S 



away from the genuine objects of faith. 
And look at the consequences ! Because 
philosophers will not study the facts of 
that mental rapport which takes place in 
Mesmerism, whereby the mind of the ig- 
norant often gives out in echo the knowl- 
edge of the informed, we have claims of 
inspiration springing up right and left. 
Because medical men will not study the 
facts of the mesmeric trance, nor ascer- 
tain the extremest of its singularities, we 
have tales of Estaticas, and of sane men 
going into the Tyrol and elsewhere to 
contemplate, as a sign from heaven, what 
their physicians ought to be able to report 
of at home as natural phenomena easily 
producible in certain states of disease. 
Because physiologists and mental philoso- 
phers will not attend to facts from whose 
vastness they pusillanimously shrink, the 
infinitely delicate mechanism and organiza- 
tion of brain, nerves and mind are thrown 
as a toy into the hands of children and 
other ignorant persons, and of the base. 
What, again, can follow from this but the 
desecration, in the eyes of the many, of 
fhings which ought to command their rev- 
erence ■? What becomes of really divine 
inspiration when the commonest people 
find they can elicit marvels of prevision 
and insight ? What becomes of the ven- 
eration for rehgious contemplation when 
Estaticas are found to be at the command 
of very unhallowed — wholly unauthorized 
hands ! What becomes of the respect in 
which the medical profession ought to be 
held, when the friends of the sick and suf- 
fering, with their feeling.^ ail alive, see the 
doctors' skill and science overborne and 
set aside by means at the command of an 
ignorant neighbour — means which are all 
ease and pleasantness ? How can the 
profession hold its dominion over minds, 
however backed bylaw and the opinion of 
the educated, when the vulgar see and 
know that limbs are removed without 
pain, in opposition to the will of the doc- 
tors, and in spite of their denial of the 
facts'? What avails the decision of a 
whole College of Surgeons that such a 
thing could not be, when a whole town 
full of people know that it was 1 Which 
must succumb, the learned body or the 
fact] Thus are objects of reverence des- 
ecrated, not sanctified, by attempted re- 
striction of truth, or of research into it. 
Thus are human passions and human des- 
tinies committed to reckless hands, for 
sport or abuse. No wonder if somnam- 
bules are made into fortune-tellers — no 
wonder if they are made into prophets of 
fear, malice and revenge, by reflecting in 
their somnambuhsm the fear, malice, and 
revenge of their questioners ; no wonder 
if they are made even ministers of death, 
by being led from sick-bed to sick-bed in 
the dim and dreary alleys of our towns, to 



declare which of the sick will recover, and 
which will die ! Does any one suppose 
that powers so popular, and now so dif- 
fused, can be interdicted- by law — such 
oracles silenced by the reserve of the 
squeamish — such appeals to human pas- 
sions hushed. — in an age of universal com- 
munication, by the choice of a class or 
two to be themselves dumb? No: this 
is not the way. It is terribly late to be 
setting about choosing a way, but some- 
thing must be done ; and that something 
is clearly for those whose studies and art 
relate to the human frame to take up, ear- 
nestly and avowedly, the investigation of 
this weighty matter ; to take its practice 
into their own hands, in virtue of the ir- 
resistible claim of qualification. When 
they become the wisest and the most 
skilful in the administration of Mesmer- 
ism, others, even the most reckless vul- 
gar, will no more think of interfering than 
they now do of using the lancet, or oper- 
ating on the eye. Here, as elsewhere, 
knowledge is power. The greater knowl- 
edge will ever insure the superior power. 
At present, the knowledge of Mesmerism, 
superficial and scanty as it is, is out of the 
professional pale. When it is excelled by 
that which issues from within the profes- 
sional pale, the remedial and authoritative 
power will reside where it ought ; and not 
till then. These are the chief considera- 
tions which have caused me to put forth 
these letters in this place; — an act which 
may seem rash to all who are unaware 
of the extent of the popular knowledge 
and practice of Mesmerism. The Athe- 
naum* is not likely to reach the ignorant 
classes of our towns; atid if it did, the ca- 
ses I have related would be less striking to 
them than numbers they have learned by 
the means of itinerant Mesmerists. The 
AtheruBum does reach large numbers of ed- 
ucated and professional men ; and I trust 
some of them may possibly be aroused to 
consideration of the part it behoves thena 
to take. 

As for the frequent objection brought 
against inquiry into Mesmerism, that there 
should be no countenance of an influence 
which gives human beings such power 
over one another, I really think a moment's 
reflection, and a very slight knowledge of 
Mesmerism would supply both the answers 
which the objection requires. First, it is 
too late, as I have said above ; the power 
is abroad, and ought to be guided and 
controlled. Next, this is but one addition 
to the powers we have over one another 
already ; and a far more slow and difficult 
one than many which are safely enough 
possessed. Every apothecary's shop is 
full of deadly drugs — every workshop is 

* The Letters were first published in London, in 
the " Athensenm, a Journal of English and Foreign 
Literature and the Fine Arts." 



LETTERS ON MESMERISM. 



27 



full of deadly weapons — wherever we go, 
there are plenty of people who could knock 
us down, rob, and murder us; wherever we 
live there are plenty of people who could 
defame and ruin ns. Why do they not 1 
Because moral considerations deter them. 
Then bring the same moral considerations 
to bear on the subject of Mesmerism. If 
the fear is of laying victims prostrate in 
trance, and exercising spells over them, 
the answer is, that this is done with infi- 
nitely greater ease and certainty by drugs 
than it can ever be by Mesmerism ; by 
drugs which are to be had in every street. 
And as sensible people do not let narcotic 
drugs lie about in their houses, within reach 
of the ignorant and mischievous, so would 
they see that Mesmerism was not practised 
without witnesses and proper superinten- 
dence. It is a mistake, too, to suppose 
that Mesmerism can be used at will to 
strike down victims, helpless and uncon- 
scious, as laudanum does, except in cases 
of excessive susceptibility from disease ; 
cases which are of course, under proper 
ward. The concurrence of two parties is 
needful in the first place, which is not the 
case in the administration of narcotics : 
and then the practice is very uncertain in 
its results on most single occasions ; and 
again, in the majority of instances; it ap- 
pears that the intellectual and moral pow- 
ers are more, and not less vigorous than 
in the ordinary state. As far as I have 
any means of judging, the highest facul- 
ties are seen in their utmost perfection 
during the mesmeric sleep ; the innocent 
are stronger in their rectitude than ever, 
rebuking levity, reproving falsehood and 
flattery, and indignantly refusing to tell se- 
crets, or say or do any thing they ought not ; 
while the more faulty confess their sins, 
and grieve over and ask pardon for their 
offences. The volitions of the Mesmerist 
may actuate the movements of the pa- 
tient's limbs, and suggest the material of 
his ideas ; but they seem unable to touch 
his morale. In this state the morale ap- 
pears supreme, as it is rarely found in the 
ordinary condition. If this view is mista- 



ken, if it is founded on too small a collec- 
tion of facts, let it be brought to the test 
and corrected. Let the truth be ascer- 
tained and established; for it cannot be 
extinguished, and it is too important to 
be neglected. 

And now one word of respectful and 
sympathizing accost unto those reverent 
and humble spirits who painfully question 
men's right to exercise faculties whose 
scope is a new region of insight and fore- 
sight. They ask whether to use these 
faculties be not to encroach upon holy 
ground, to trespass on the precincts of the 
future and higher life. May I inquire of 
these in reply, what they conceive to be 
the divinely appointed boundary of our 
knowledge and our powers 1 Can they 
establish, or indicate, any other boundary 
than the limit of the knowledge and powers 
themselves T Has not the attempt to do 
so failed from age to age ? Is it not the 
most remarkable feature of the progress 
of Time that, in handing over the future 
into the past, he transmutes its material, 
incessantly, and without pause, converting 
what truth was mysterious, fearful, impi- 
ous to glance at, into that which is safe, 
beautiful and beneficent to contemplate 
and use, — a clearly consecrated gift from 
the Father of all to the children wh§ seek 
the light of his countenance. Where is his 
pleasure to be ascertained but in the ascer- 
tainment of what he gives and permits, in 
the proof and verification of what powers 
he has bestowed on us, and what knowl- 
edge he has placed within our reach 1 
While regarding with shame all pride of 
intellect, and with fear the presumption of 
ignorance I deeply feel that the truest hu- 
mility is evinced by those who most sim- 
ply accept and use the talents placed in 
their hands; and that the most childlike 
dependence upon their Creator appears in 
those who fearlessly apply the knowledge 
he discloses to the furtherance of that 
great consecrated object the welfare of the 
family of man. 

HARRIET MARTINEAU. 



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who does net hesitate to say, that it is the best and mosl 
useful dictionary of the English language that he has evaf 
seen." 

From the Sun. 

" It is impossible to refer to any one page, without discov- 
ering that Dr. Webster is a capital et)Tnologist. His deit- 
vations are exceedingly just, and hia explanations ' f torn} ^ 
are full without beng redundant." 

From t(\e Aberdeen vhroniae. 

" We beg to call the attention of our readers to the iswS*- 
lication of this work, the sunreme excellence of which ieso 
obvious, that it is unnecessary for us to enlarge on iJS 
merits." 

Extended critiques on the work, confirming these views,, 
have appeared in the Westminster Review, and the Scie» 
t!fie Journal of Pr<'fes.>»\r .'ai-neson •>! Ediisbn'yh 



THE BEST SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY EVER PUBLISHED, 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



TO 



MORSE'S SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY. 



ILLUSTRATED BY 



CEROGRAPHIC MAPS. 

PRICE FIFTY CENTS PER COPY. 



The Public School Society of the city of New-York 
have unanimously adopted Morse's School Geogra.- 
PHT into their extensive schools. 

From D. Meredith Reese, A.M., M.D., County Superin- 
tendent of Common Schools for the City and County of 

JVew- York. 

" Gentlemen— I have diligently eiamined the new work 
you have just published for the use of schools, entitled 
'A System of Geography, illustrated -.vifh more than fifty 
Cerographic Maps, and numerous Wood-cut Engravings, 
by Sidney E. Morse, A.M.,' and compared it with the other 
elementary works on that science which are in use ui our 
public and common schools. 

"I take great pleasure in expressing the opinion thus 
formed, that, in point of accuracy, simplicitj-, and conve- 
nience for teachers and scholars, this work of Mr. Morse 
is entitled to a decided preference over any other of the 
elementary books on the subject which I have ever seen. 

" In the happy art of condensation ttithin a few brief 
sententious paragraphs, of the important items o'' practical 
knowledge on the several countries of the Old and New 
Worlds, presenting a compend of geographical, historical, 
and statistical information in immediate connexion with 
the numerous and graphic illustrations with which it 
abounds, this book of Mr. Morse has no equal. The ample 
size, superior accuracy, distinctness, and beautiful colour- 
ing of all the maps, the exercises and descriptions, found, 
for the most part, in direC. connexion with the drawings 
and maps to which they refer, are points of esceUence 
worthy of high commendation. 

" The_ surprisingly ow price at which the work is pla- 
ced renders it, indeed, a desideratum for the school com- 
mittees, with whom economy of expenditure is indispen- 
sable ; while teachers and scholars will find the use of this 
book to lighten their labour, and render the beautiful study 
of geography sliU more attractive. D. M. Reese." 

" This geography is the lahoured production of a well- 
disciplined mind and of a learned geographer, and contains 
a greater amount of important matter in a small compass, 
probably, than any other geography in existence. Every 
remark has a definite object, and tells on that object. 
Here are no loose generalities; the matter is exceedingly 
select and well-chosen, and calculated to afford a definite 
and vivid picture of the various countries of the world. 
The youth who has thoroughly mastered this work will 
have laid a broad foimdation on which to build a thor- 
ough and extensive acquaintance with the science of ge- 
ography. The maps, produced by the application of a 
Hew and useful art to this subject, are more minute, ex- 
tensive, and accurate than is common in school atlases ; 
and being included in the same book with the geography, 
and on the same page with the reading matter to which 
they apply, \vill affjrd facilities for consulting them to 
wluch no other geographical work can pretend. ' 

" Dakiel Haskel." 

" If we mistake not, it has important advantages over 
all works on the science iliat have preceded it." — Buffalo 
Com. Advertiser. 

" Many geographies have been published the few years 
past ; but this, in our opinion, combines excellences not 
hitherto attained." — Otsego Co. Whig. 

'■We have glanced through this work, and we tTiinlf 
that we have never seen any initiary text-book on the 
same subject that so well merits the attention of parents 
and tes-chexs."— Wilmington (JV. C.) Journal. 

" This new Morse's Geography contains a mass of geo- 
graphical information which it would hardly seem possi- 
ble to condense into so small a compass, or to illustrate in 
such a variety of ways." — 5. S. Jour, and Gaz. 

"The author has displayed much taste and ability in 
the arrangement of the above work. It is destined to be- 
come the most popular and useful school geography evsr 
published." — Highland Democrat. 

'■• The work is the best calculated for the use of schools 
of 3ny book we have ever met with." — St. L,ouis Rep. 



" The whole work is obviously the restdt of long and 

eareful study, and it ia published in the best manner." 

Jfewark Daily Adveriiser. 

"This work seems better adapted to the intelligent 
study of geography by the youthful mind than any we 
have yet seen." — Rahway (JV". J.) Advocate. 

" This is unquestionably one of the most valuable of 
the numerous recent contributions to the science of geog- 
raphy."— JVoriAem Light. 

"We have a great many excellent geographies; but 
among them we do not find one which, take it all in all^ 
has so much to recommend it as ' Morse's School Geogra- 
phy.' " — Alexandria (Z>. C.) paper. 

" The arrangement is the most conrenient we ever saw, 
and we have no hesitation in pronotmcing the book one 
of the best of its kind ever issued." — JJ. S. Sat. Post. 

" We sincerely believe this is the best book of the kind 
for schools that has been published. We cor*:dently rec- 
ommend it to the notice of all teachers." — Albion. 

" The work strikes us as being one of great practical 
utility, and we take pleasure in recommending it to the 
favourable consideration of teachers and parents in this 
county." — " The Experiment," J^ortcalk, Ohio. 

" Mr. Morse has brought to the preparation of his pres- 
ent publication a large share of practical knowledge and 
e.xperience, which has enabled him to produce a volume 
that, for accuracy and fulness of information, as well as 
cheapness, will rival our most popular school geographies, 
and secure for it extensive circulation and use." — Soutk- 
em Churchman. 

"The arrangement of this work, its handsome execu- 
tion, and its extreme cheapness (50 cents), will bring it 
into general use." — Bridgeport Standard. 

" This is a quarto of 72 pages, and the most compendi- 
ous and beautiful system of geography we have ever 
seen." — Christian Reflector. 

" It is at once a cheap, convenient, well-planned, and 
weU-executed system of geography, and must be speedily 
adopted as the prevailing text-book on this subject." — 
JV. T. American. 

" This is really one of the very best works of tlie kind 
that we have examined for a long time. The information 
is full, clear, and comprehensive, and the maps and illus- 
trations admirable." — Phila. Inquirer. 

" The most useful school-book and work for general ref- 
erence that has come under our notice for a length of 
time." — Phila. Sun. 

" It must, we think, become, ere long, the only one ia 
use throughout the counlrj'. It has many very marked 
advantages over all other works of the kind ever offered." 
— JV. F. Courier and Enquirer. 

" The present work presents the very best thing of the 
kind which has ever fallen within our notice. It is the 
result of long and extremely careful study, and we would 
recommend it to the public as in all respects, at least so 
far as we have eiamined it, faithful and reliable." — Prav. 
Gazette. 

" It Is a very beautiful and convenient work for schools 
and families." — Mothers^ Journal. 

" This work is compiled with great eare from the most 
approved authorities and surveys, and will be found or 
great value to the common school student." — Westchester 
Herald. 

" It is a most useful work, beautifully printed, and we 
hope to see it adopted by all our schools and private 
teachers."— JVezc-OrZefflju Tr-ue Amer um. 

" It must, we think, as soon as ' oecomes known, bo 
universally tised in every school ir Jie United States." — 
Jf. Y. Sun. 

" The work is designed, and ai jiirably adapted for th©^ 
use of schools." — Spirit of the Timts. 



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mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm'i'Bmmmiuammam 



